Make your compact 1911 reloads a breeze with Wilson Combat’s Lo-Profile basepads.
OK, I’ll admit this is a bit niche, but man … it’s cool.
So, there you are carrying an Officer’s Model or other short-framed compact 1911. Using a full-sized magazine as a reload would be nice, but you can’t. If you slam that mag home with the slide locked back (and when else will you need a really fast reload?), the mag will ride up over the mag button and wedge against the ejector. It won’t feed, and it won’t come out.
Training to not do a slam-load is a good idea, but stress will make a mess of that plan.
So, what to do?
Simple. Get the Wilson Combat Lo-Profile basepads. They replace the existing pads on your Wilson or McCormick magazines, and the front lip of the new base pad rides up higher on the front of the tube compared to the originals.
The taller front lip stops the magazine before it can ride over the magazine button and wedge itself in place.
The whole point of it is that the basepad rides up enough to stop the magazine before it can ride up over the magazine button.
Installation is simple: Press in the retention button on the basepad, slide the old one off and slide the new one on. Make sure it locks in place. Then, make sure the mag fits in the pistol and locks in place there.
I encountered the override problem when I was practicing using my custom compact 1911 for The Pin Shoot. The Concealed Carry Main Event calls for a pistol with a barrel no longer than 4 3/4 inches long. (In the early days, it was less than 4 inches.) And, you can’t have more than six rounds in the handgun. I simply pulled regular-sized magazines out of the magazine bin and installed the Wilson Combat basepads, and I was stylin’.
The Wilson Combat Lo-Profile steel base pads make reloading a compact 1911 easy and not a headache.
As an added bonus, the steel of the replacements is heavier than the polymer of the originals, and that encourages the magazine to clear the frame sooner on a reload. The longer standard magazines make slamming home the reload even more sure of a thing.
If there’s one shortcoming, I must admit that it, too, is also niche and personal. My hands contact the top edge of the base pad extension, up where it meets the frame. One of these days I’ll set aside an afternoon to carefully dress down that edge, so it isn’t a sharp corner to contact my pinky finger.
The Concealed Carry Event recently changed from a full-power-load event to a 9mm-equivalent one, so I won’t be needing the 230-grainers at 870 fps anymore. I might download my .45 ACP ammo and continue using the existing gun, and I might just switch over to 9mm.
But, in any case, the custom carry 1911 has its own set of reload-safe magazines.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Wilson Combat Low-Profile Base Pad 47 Series .45 Magazines 1911 Pistols Ma
It’s not enough to merely own guns, you need to know how to use them, and how to use them responsibly.
American gun culture is often reduced to a debate over rights. Who has them, who shouldn’t and where may the government draw lines … if anywhere? But, historically, rights were only half the equation. The other half was responsibility.
Early Americans were not merely expected to own firearms. They were expected to know how to use them, maintain them and exercise judgment in their use. Gun ownership was active not passive. Competence was assumed. That tradition deserves revival.
Ownership Was Never Enough
Firearms in early America were working tools. They were handled daily, carried publicly and relied upon for survival. Negligence was dangerous, and ignorance was costly.
Militia musters doubled as inspections. Weapons were checked for serviceability. Ammunition was counted. Skill mattered. Those who failed to meet expectations could be fined—not because arms were dangerous, but because mishandling them was. Gun culture emphasized readiness not symbolism.
Self-Defense as Civic Responsibility
Self-defense was not viewed as antisocial behavior. It was understood as a stabilizing force. An armed and competent citizen reduced dependence on a centralized authority like the government and strengthened community resilience. Preparedness deterred violence more effectively than vulnerability ever could.
This perspective explains why arms were encouraged in public spaces. The goal was not confrontation but deterrence. A capable citizenry made disorder less likely not more.
Training Was the Norm
Marksmanship, safe gun handling and judgment were taught early. Hunting and pest control provided constant practice. Shooting competitions reinforced skill. Firearm maintenance was common knowledge.
Equally important was restraint. Knowing when not to use force was part of competence. That moral dimension has always separated legitimate self-defense from recklessness.
The Modern Gap
Today, many gun owners pursue extensive training. Others do not. The result is a cultural divide, one that undermines public confidence and fuels criticism.
Poorly trained gun owners are more likely to make mistakes, misjudge threats or misunderstand the legal consequences of defensive force. That failure reflects not on the right itself, but on how it is exercised. The solution is not fewer guns. It is better gun owners.
Responsibility Under Stress
Competence with firearms is not measured on the range under ideal conditions. It is measured under stress, when heart rate spikes, fine motor skills degrade and decisions must be made in seconds rather than minutes. Early Americans understood this intuitively. Their familiarity with firearms was not academic; it was forged through repetition, necessity and consequence.
Modern defensive encounters differ in form but not in principle. Stress remains the great equalizer. Without training, even well-intentioned individuals may hesitate when action is required, or act impulsively when restraint is demanded. Both outcomes carry serious moral and legal consequences.
This is why training must extend beyond marksmanship. Shooting well is important, but shooting wisely is essential. Judgment under pressure is a learned skill. It requires exposure to realistic scenarios, an understanding of use-of-force boundaries and honest self-assessment. Historically, this knowledge was acquired organically through daily life. Today, it must be pursued deliberately.
The Moral Weight of Defensive Force
One of the most neglected aspects of modern gun culture is the moral gravity of self-defense. The use of deadly force is not merely a tactical decision; it’s an ethical one. Early American culture did not treat violence casually, even when it was sometimes unavoidable. The expectation was that arms would be carried responsibly and used only when necessary.
That moral restraint remains central to the legitimacy of civilian arms. A society that entrusts its citizens with the means of lethal force does so on the assumption that they will exercise judgment, restraint and accountability. Training reinforces that assumption by forcing individuals to confront uncomfortable realities: the aftermath of violence, the permanence of consequences, and the burden carried by those who survive defensive encounters.
Community Standards and Cultural Survival
Gun culture does not survive because of court decisions alone. It survives because communities maintain standards. When responsible ownership becomes the norm, training, safe handling and ethical conduct are expected rather than exceptional and public trust follows.
Conversely, when negligence and bravado define the public image of gun owners, the political ground shifts. The fight for the Second Amendment is not only legal, but it is also cultural, and culture is shaped by example.
Early Americans understood that freedom required self-governance. That principle applies as much to armed citizenship today as it did centuries ago. Responsibility is not a burden imposed from outside. It is the price of liberty freely accepted.
Training as the Best Form of Gun Control
If history teaches anything, it is this: Societies reduce violence not by disarming the responsible but by cultivating competence and responsibility.
Modern defensive training emphasizes:
Safe handling and storage
Situational awareness
Avoidance and de-escalation
Legal and moral decision-making
Medical response after violence
This approach aligns perfectly with American tradition.
Civic Virtue Still Matters
An armed citizen is not a vigilante. He is a steward of force. With that power comes an obligation to avoid conflict, to act lawfully and to protect life rather than escalate disputes.
Rights divorced from responsibility eventually lose legitimacy. Rights paired with discipline endure.
Conclusion: Reclaiming the Older Tradition
American gun culture was never just about owning arms. It was about being worthy of them. Training, restraint and civic responsibility made widespread firearm ownership acceptable and admirable in the first place. If the future of the Second Amendment depends on anything beyond court decisions, it depends on whether gun owners are willing to live up to that inheritance.
To be armed is not enough. To be armed and prepared is a tradition worth defending.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Good glass is expensive, but the Zeiss LRP S3 6-36×56 punches well above its weight.
6 months ago, if you asked me the top 10 rifle scopes for long range distance shooting, I would have honestly forgotten that Zeiss even made a scope for the job. Zeiss has been around since my grandfather’s grandfather was still trying to find the last potato in Ireland, and is one of those rare brands that is everywhere but often just out of sight.
Outside of the camera world and the world of precision optics for industrial applications, Zeiss isn’t a huge name in the hunting or competition world. But they absolutely should be.
Zeiss Is German For Great Glass
In 1846, Carl Zeiss founded the Zeiss brand with two partners, Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott. 180 years later, Zeiss is well-known in every field that requires optics of any kind. Zeiss is found in a lot of things you’ve heard of and a lot of things you haven’t, like ophthalmic lenses, lenses used in semiconductor manufacturing, microscopes, and even the optics used in the James Webb Space Telescope.
Little-known fact: without Zeiss, we literally wouldn’t have the modern world as we know it, since it was Zeiss that designed the unimaginably precise mirrors used in EUV Lithography production. Basically, if you use a smartphone, computer, or anything else with a microprocessor chip made in the last 20 years — thank Zeiss.
With over 46,000 global employees and a yearly revenue of over 11 billion dollars, the hunting and competition shooting market is small fries to a company like Zeiss. While Zeiss has offered binoculars, spotting scopes, and hunting-focused rifle scopes for a long time, it took most of us by surprise when Zeiss launched the LRP S5 and S3.
Since then, this has absolutely been an optic that is being slept on hard by the community.
Zeiss LRP S3 6-36×56 Specs & Features
Magnification: 6–36×56
Focal Plane: First
Reticle Options: ZF-MOAi | ZF-MRi
Light Transmission: 90 %
Effective Lens Diameter: 56 mm
Exit Pupil Diameter: 8.8 – 1.6 mm
Twilight Factor: 17.7 – 44.9
Field of View at 100 m (yds): 6.8 – 1.1 m (20.4 – 3.3 ft)
Objective Viewing Angle: 3.9° – 0.6°
Diopter Adjustment Range: + 3.0 | − 3.0 dpt
Eye Relief: 80 – 90 mm (3.0 – 3.5″)
Parallax Setting: 10 m – ∞
Elevation Adjustment Range at 100 m: 32.0 MRAD | 110 MOA
Windage Adjustment Range at 100 m: 14.6 MRAD | 50 MOA
Adjustment per Click at 100 m: 0.1 MRAD | 0.25 MOA
Main Tube Diameter: 34 mm
Eyepiece Tube Diameter: 45 mm
Objective Tube Diameter: 65 mm
LotuTec: Yes
T* Coating: Yes
Nitrogen Filled: Yes
Waterproof: 400 mbar
Operating Temperature: − 25 °C | + 55 °C (− 13 °F | + 131 °F)
Length: 384 mm (15.1″)
Weight (Without Inner Rail): 1,107 g (39.1 oz)
On The Range
Two things are immediately noticeable when first using the Zeiss LRP S3. First, the glass is classic Zeiss, being incredibly bright and clear. This is the magic Zeiss has that no one else does. For brightness and color clarity, Zeiss is almost impossible to beat, even at high price points.
Berger Precision Challenge PRS Match, 2026. Image by Camdyn Powers
Second, the scope design feels a little foreign. Small things like the parallax not having range markings, the magnification level being written on the body of the scope instead of the adjustment ring, and even the style and size of the font used are just different choices than what most NA-based manufacturers choose. None of that is a bad thing, it’s just different.
Range markings are never accurate on parallax, but they are normally at least good guesses to get you close before a stage. Lacking that is a little annoying.
Those differences take a little getting used to if you’re like me and you’re coming off of years of using Vortex, Bushnell, NightForce, Burris, SIG Sauer (USA), etc. But after a few range trips, the differences are mostly forgotten.
Putting the LRP to use on the clock has been nothing short of an absolute treat. First at a local PRS match and again at the Berger Precision Challenge, the Zeiss LRP performed amazingly well. The stunning glass of the LRP makes finding and IDing targets incredibly easy, even with they are beat up dark gray targets in the shade of a setting sun at the end of your day.
It’s really impossible to completely convey just how bright this glass is. Pictures won’t do it justice. You have to see it.
From 100-yard shooting groups to 1,000 yards banging steel for points at the Berger match, the Zeiss LRP never let me down. Turrets are clicky and easy to read, turret tracking has been perfect through hundreds of cycles, and even getting dropped on the ground didn’t shift zero. Partly thanks to the Hawkins heavy Tactical one-piece mount holding the LRP.
Pros & Cons
PRO:
Zeiss legendary glass
Robust, well-built scope
Perfect tracing
Extremely high-value for dollar price
CON:
Turret zero stop is an older design
Controls and reticle take some getting used to
The Best PRS Production Class Rifle Scopes: Zeiss 6-36×56
We live in the golden age of long range shooting. Never before have rifles so precise at such jaw-dropping distances been so accessible by the average shooter, assuming you have the money. While long distance shooting is addictive and insanely fun, it’s also a great way to stay poor.
Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical 1-Piece Mount kept the Zeiss safe during this review. Outstanding and rock-solid mount. Built-in level and optional diving board mount add to an already incredible mount.
Precision Rifle Series, or PRS, is the main body behind the sport of long range shooting. While other flavors of competition distance shooting exist, it’s normally PRS that anyone under the age of 50 is most interested in.
If you’re trying to save a buck, PRS has a production class that is limited to a $3,000 off-the-shelf rifle and a $2,500 off-the-shelf scope. While there is a long list of great options under that price tag, the Zeiss LRP S3 636-56 is likely the only one sporting Alpha glass. In my book, Zeiss is the clear winner for production class, and it’s not even a real contest.
For open class rifles, Zeiss is still a very strong contender. Getting significantly more out of your optic will only come with a $4,500+ price tag. Near-peer rivals to the Zeiss LRP S3 are worth considering, such as the Vortex Razor 3 or the Burris XTR Pro, but Zeiss still stands strong.
Loose Rounds
Zeiss is a juggernaut of an optics brand that makes most of their money outside the sporting optics world. Leveraging their technology developed for other applications and applying it to our shooting world provides some incredible optics for a surprisingly accessible price.
Offset windage markings make them a lot easier to see when behind the rifle. This is a small feature that makes a big difference.
Nothing Zeiss does is cheap or on a budget, but it’s at least accessible and offers a shocking value-ratio.
For my eyes, the only glass on the market that might edge out Zeiss comes from ZCO. But ZCO starts at about double the price of the Zeiss LRP S3. Put into that context, the $2,500 MSRP of the LRP S3 is a lot more attractive.
If you want alpha-tier glass and don’t have a trust fund fueling your lifestyle, Zeiss LRP S3 should be on the short-list of candidates.
Looking for a new iron or piece of kit to enhance the one you already own? Check out these 7 new bits of guns and gear to grow your firearms wish list.
Nosler’s ASP line of defensive handgun ammo stands for Assured Stopping Power, and the cartridges’ construction using fine Nosler components like the company’s hollow point bullets suggests they live up to their name. Previously only available in autoloading pistol calibers, Nosler recently expanded the line to include three straight-wall revolver calibers as well. These include a 125-grain .38 Special load, a 125-grain .357 Magnum load and a 240-grain .44 Magnum load. If you rely on a wheelgun for defense, you may want to consider loading it with Nosler ASP. MSRP: $28 for .38 SPL // $29 for .357 Mag. // $32 for .44 Mag. // all per 20-round box
Mossberg 990 SPX SBS
The recent changes in NFA tax stamp pricing have ushered in a new era of factory short-barreled rifle and shotgun options, and one of the coolest to come out this year is from Mossberg. Listed in their catalog as the 990 SPX Magpul Class 3, this 12-gauge semi-auto SBS features a handy 14.75-inch barrel and a capacity of 5+1. As long as you’re willing to do the Form 4 paperwork and wait a little bit, this little shotty with a Magpul stock, M-Lok forend, ghost ring sights and optics-ready receiver may be one of the best new home defense options available. MSRP: $1,310
Vortex Triumph Red Dot
Good quality red dot sights have become so affordable and prolific these days that there’s less and less reason not to put one on just about every gun you own. If you still have a carbine or PCC in the safe that’s only wearing irons, Vortex’s new Triumph may be worth slapping on it. Very reasonably priced, the Triumph features a 2-MOA red dot reticle, nine daylight brightness levels, two night-vision-compatible levels, motion activation and an automatic shutoff feature after 10 minutes of no movement. For compatibility with a wide range of firearms, each optic ships with a lower-third co-witness mount as well as a low mount. MSRP: $150
Vortex Triumph 1x Reflex Red Dot Sight MOA Dot Reticle
MP5s, 9mm ARs and 9mm AKs—PCCs of all stripes are in a bit of a golden age right now. Not only is this class of gun super fun and affordable to shoot, but they also make great home defense options, especially when paired with a suppressor. Rugged’s new Sub9 was tailored specifically to do that job and to do it very well. Full-auto rated and optimized for subguns, the Sub9 uses coaxial chambers to efficiently minimize sound and gas blowback while keeping the overall package compact at just 6.8 inches. It ships with a Rugged Universal 3 Lug mount that can mate with any HK-spec 3-lug system, but it’s HUB-compatible as well to keep mounting options versatile. MSRP: $950
One of the hottest new trends in the handgun space is removable serialized fire control systems for increased modularity. Ruger calls the one in its RXM the Fire Control Insert (FCI), and combined with Magpul’s new frame size options, it’s allowing for some pretty cool things. The standard RXM is Glock 19-sized, but by swapping your FCI into this new full-size Magpul EHG RG9 grip, your RXM will have a G19-length slide on a G17-size frame. This will provide more grip real estate and a cleaner look when running 17-round mags. Speaking of looks, the grip is available in black, FDE, OD green and Stealth Gray. MSRP: $40
When it comes to both handgun and rifle grips, Hogue has long been a go-to option. The company’s overmolded products provide a soft rubber texture that’s easy and comfortable to squeeze hard and get a solid, no-slip purchase on. Now, Hogue is adding the same overmolded grip option for the forend of your AR or other M-Lok compatible firearm. Better yet, it’s not just a simple vertical foregrip; it’s a hybrid design that also allows for a 45-degree hold. The grips are available in black, FDE, OD green and Slate Grey to match the look of your rifle. MSRP: $40
CCI Blazer Brass Clean-Fire Suppressor Ammo
Whether we’re plinking or training, suppressors make it a better experience. With enough shooting, however, they get dirty and lose effectiveness, and anybody who’s ever cleaned a can will tell you it’s a messy and not fun process. Solution? Shoot the cleanest ammo you can, and CCI has just introduced a new line specifically catered to that purpose. Called the Blazer Brass Clean-Fire Suppressor line, it’s loaded to subsonic velocities and uses clean-burning powder, lead-free primers and TMJ (Total Metal Jacket, meaning the lead core is fully enclosed) projectiles to minimize fouling. The cherry on top is that it meets the power factor requirements for competitive shooting use. Initial load offerings include 147-grain 9mm, 180-grain .40 S&W and 230-grain .45 ACP. MSRP: $21 for 9mm // $32 for .40 S&W // $36 for .45 ACP, per 50-round box
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
The .416 Remington Magnum’s popularity is a long, slow burn.
Officially announced in November 1988, the .416 Remington Magnum was the first American cartridge designed for use on African game to be introduced since the .458 Winchester Magnum in 1956, and the .460 Weatherby Magnum back in 1958. The .416 is based on the 8mm Remington Magnum necked up to .416-caliber. It was initially available with either a 400-grain pointed soft-point or a 400-grain solid bullet loaded to a muzzle velocity of 2,400 fps and a muzzle energy of 5,115 ft-lb. The company says that the 400-grain solid is exactly that, turned from solid brass and not a lead core with a heavy jacket.
The cartridge has been available in the Remington Model 700 Safari bolt-action rifle, but retail listings of the model show it to be out of stock. Other rifle manufacturers, such as Ruger, once picked up the .416 Remington, but we could find only Winchester having a current chambering in its Model 70 Safari Express line.
General Comments
There has been a persistent call, by those who hunt dangerous game, for a cartridge to fill the gap between the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum. The .416 Rigby accomplished this rather well, but both rifles and ammunition became increasingly difficult to obtain, until Federal began offering that cartridge in the late 1980s. This problem was then solved, to some extent, by a number of wildcat cartridges such as the .416 Taylor, .416 Hoffman and the .425 Express. These cartridges all, more or less, duplicated the performance of the .416 Rigby, and the .416 Remington does pretty much the same thing.
Although the .416 bullet is 100 grains lighter than that of the .458 Winchester, it starts out with an almost 300-fps higher velocity. That, combined with better sectional density and a superior aerodynamic shape, gives it certain ballistic advantages. It not only has a higher initial velocity, but it also increases its retained velocity over the .458 as the range increases. According to the factory figures, it has an 11 percent advantage in muzzle energy, and this increases to 18 percent at 100 yards and 30 percent at 200 yards.
The .416 Remington is ideal for dangerous game, including Cape buffalo, elephant, lion and brown bear. It also does well on moose and elk. The .416 Remington has a trajectory very similar to the .375 H&H and is a better long-range cartridge than the .458 Winchester for use on thin-skinned game. For the hunter who must travel light, the .416 would be a good one-gun cartridge choice for use in Africa.
Currently, several companies load ammunition in this chambering, including Hornady, Barnes, Federal, Winchester, and Buffalo Bore. Remington doesn’t list the namesake round as an active commercial load.
.416 Remington Magnum Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
Go from mushy to much better with Timney’s Alpha Competition Replacement Trigger for the Ruger RXM.
Twenty years ago, I would have never thought there would be so many drop-in trigger options to choose from. If you’re a relatively new shooter, you’ve probably never thought about it because, for about the past decade, drop-in, do-it-yourself trigger fixes for guns have been commonplace.
But it hasn’t always been that way, and Timney Triggers is a big reason why you have so many aftermarket trigger options, to include some for handguns like the Ruger RXM.
Timney has been around since 1946. For a long, long time they existed on customers who were sporterizing military Mauser rifles. This was a very common practice right after World War II. Many veterans brought Mauser rifles home with them, so Timney made their name by offering aftermarket triggers for those Mausers and for Enfield and Springfield rifles. They also offered triggers for the Remington 700, Winchester Model 70 and Ruger 77.
Around the turn of the century, John Vehr, who took over the company from his parents, did two very important things: He hired a talented engineer by the name of Calvin Motley, and he hired a marketing guy from West Virginia named Chris Ellis.
Motley designed a Timney trigger for the AR-15 and, a few years later, a trigger for the Remington 870 shotgun. These triggers, combined with Vehr’s vision, Motley’s engineering savvy, and Ellis’ knack for getting the word out to customers, created a perfect storm. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Timney now offers more than 100 triggers that shooters can install themselves including handgun triggers for Glock and S&W, and now the Ruger RXM.
Timney’s Alpha Competition Replacement Trigger for the Ruger RXM. It comes with a sear housing (red), a new trigger and trigger bar, and two trigger return springs of different strengths.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Ruger RXM, it’s a Glock clone built on a Magpul polymer frame. But unlike the Glock, the RXM has a removable, serial numbered, stainless-steel fire control insert (FCI), and you can switch this FCI between different frames.
Ruger RXM grip frame with the fire control insert (FCI) and factory trigger removed.
As I stated in my February 2025 edition of this column discussing the Ruger RXM, “I carried Glock pistols for almost the entire 13 years I worked in law enforcement. I trusted them and shot them well but was never in love with them. Mostly because that damned indentation behind the trigger guard was murder on the first knuckle joint of my middle finger. The Magpul EHG grip frame on the Ruger RXM is less notch and more taper and solves this problem. It fits my hand much better. In fact, compared to a Glock, the EHG grip is a better fit to my hand in every way.”
Of course, being the Glock-like clone that the RXM is, it shares the Glock-like mushy trigger. The trigger on my RXM broke at a somewhat distasteful 5 pounds with about a full centimeter of travel between when the passive safety was disengaged and when the sear was released. Talking with Ellis at Timney, he said their RXM trigger would have a lighter pull weight and that the trigger travel would be slightly reduced. Being the trigger snob I am, I ordered one and Ellis was right. I’ll get to the details in a minute. First, I want to share with you some notes on installation.
I’m not going to go in depth on the installation of the trigger, because it comes with instructions. Timney has a detailed video online, and if you are somewhat familiar with taking a Glock apart, you’ll pick up on the internals of the RXM pretty quickly. I will say that the process took me about 30 minutes and that includes the time it took me to take the photos.
However, there was a problem with the installation: The pistol worked, but after the sear release, the trigger continued to travel and pushed past the disconnect. I thought I might have done something wrong, so I called one of the technicians at Timney. When I began describing the problem he knew exactly what I was talking about before I finished.
According to the technician, the disconnect on less than about 1 percent of the RMX pistols from Ruger will not have enough tension, and it lets the trigger bar push past. He said all I needed to do to correct the problem was to disassemble the pistol and just tweak the disconnect bar out a very slight amount. I did as I was told, put the RMX back together—this time it only took me about 10 minutes to do everything—and the pistol worked perfectly.
Here you can see the disconnect for the Ruger RXM pistol. If the trigger bar is bypassing it after sear release, you need to tweak the disconnect outward a very slight amount.
The new Timney Alpha Competition Replacement Trigger for the Ruger RXM reduced the pull weight from right at 5 pounds to just a smidgen more than 2.5 pounds. But it also reduced the distance from the point where the passive safety is disengaged to the point where the sear is released by about 2 to 3 millimeters, with the overall travel from safety release to sear release ending up at less than a centimeter.
Here you can see the factory disconnect on the Ruger RXM pistol with the Timney trigger installed.
Though I’m not a Glock fan boy, of all the Glock-like clones on the market I like the Ruger RXM best, and even more so now with its new trigger. If you like yours or are considering one, the Timney drop-in trigger will only make it better.
Just keep in mind that there’s about a 1 percent chance that the disconnector on your RXM will need to be fine-tuned a very slight bit. You won’t need a gunsmith to install this trigger or tweak the disconnector, if necessary.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
New Osight SE Enclosed Green Micro Dot! Take a closer look at the multi-reticle RMSc green dot from Osight!
Sponsored Content
NEW from Osight comes the next generation of green dot optics for CCW, EDC, self-defense, and home defense! The Osight SE GN is an enclosed-emitter green dot optic with an RMSc footprint and features a 2-MOA dot with a 32-MOA circle. Multi-reticle system means you can choose between just the dot, just the circle, or both.
Osight SE GN comes with features you expect, like a side-loading battery (CR1620), 100,000-hour battery life (2 MOA dot), and motion sensor activation. It also comes with features you might not expect, but will definitely appreciate. Low-battery indicator when the battery drops below 2.2v, low-deck height, meaning the optic can co-witness with most factory iron sights, and 10-brightness levels (including 2 night vision settings).
Parallax-free, IPX7 waterproof, 7075-T6 Aluminium, Aspherical Lens, 530nm green dot — the Osight SE GN comes packed with features and extras.
Best of all, MSRP is only $220. From now until March 31st, Osight is running a 15% off discount via their Amazon Store.
WHY ENCLOSED?
Classic red dots (and green dots) are made using an open emitter design that leaves the window exposed to dust, rain, snow, and everything else. This is not ideal for optics due to the emitter getting blocked or obscured, causing the dot to not function correctly or make getting a sight picture more difficult.
Enclosed emitter optics are exactly what the name implies and provide a sealed box around the emitter and optic window. While adding a little bulk and expense, the added protection is highly recommended for optics you might need to depend on in a life-or-death situation. For CCW and open carry, this is espeshally importaint due to the optic being exposed to the elements more ofton.
The Osight SE GN, coming in at a price that is so affordable and packed with premium features, is great to see!
Green Multi-Reticle System: Switch between dot-and-circle, 2 MOA dot-only, or 32 MOA circle-only reticles for any shooting scenario.
Enclosed Emitter Optic: With this fully enclosed system, the optic offers unmatched protection against the elements.
Side-Loading Battery: Easy battery replacement without removing the optic, and a highend CR1620 battery.
Aspherical Lens: Ensures zero distortion, parallax-free performance, and exceptional clarity for rapid, precise target acquisition.
RMSc Footprint: Fitting directly to your optics-ready slides, delivers exceptional compatibility, and seamless integration across a multitude of builds.
Motion Sensor: Powers on at the slightest movement, and powers down after 3 minutes of inactivity to conserve battery.
Low Power Indication: If battery voltage drops below 2.2V, the reticle will quickly triple-flash once per minute to recommend a battery replacement.
Sleek Battery Tray: Stays comfortable to carry, quick to draw, and ideal for concealed or duty use.
Low-Deck Height: Provides a perfect co-witness with most factory iron sights, eliminating the need for lower 1/3 or suppressor-height sights.
10 Brightness Settings: 8 daylight and 2 night vision settings — compatible levels for versatility in any demands.
CNC-Machined Aircraft-Grade 7075-T6 Aluminum Housing: Making the optic nearly indestructible ensuring durability and a professional edge over time.
Memory Function: Once activated returns to the last selected brightness level, allowing users to focus on the target without distraction
Rock River Arms has released a retro A1 Carbine SBR AR in celebration of zero-dollar tax stamps.
Now that the cost of some NFA tax stamps has been reduced to zero dollars, there’s basically no reason not to buy factory short-barreled rifles through a Form 4 transfer rather than making your own through a Form 1. Rock River Arms is just one of many companies embracing this change, and the company has launched a new retro AR-15 A1 Carbine SBR to shed some light on that fact. It’s available in two configurations and both look very cool.
Expectedly, the RRA A1 Carbine SBR is chambered for 5.56 NATO, and it features a chrome moly 10.5-inch barrel with a 1/2×28 threaded muzzle and an A1 flash hider. It has a carbine-length gas system, an F-marked FSB/gas block and is built on RRA’s LAR-15M lower receiver. For the cool retro aesthetics, it has a forged carry handle upper and a short A1-style triangular handguard, and it’s available with either a short fixed entry stock or an adjustable carbine-style stock. The grip is A1-pattern as well and the rifle has an RRA single-stage trigger. Not to be pedantic, but while RRA describes the upper as A1-pattern, it technically isn’t as it lacks a forward assist. I think that’s a good thing though for a little carbine like this, as the slick-side upper has slightly less bulk and weight.
Keep in mind, cool looks and practicality are not mutually exclusive, and RRA’s A1 SBR could be a handy, lightweight defensive carbine. There are ample accessory options on the market for mounting red dots on carry handles and weapon lights on the FSB or bayonet lug. You don’t always need rails to increase a rifle’s utility.
Both variants of the RRA A1 Carbine SBR are available now. The entry stock version has an MSRP of $1,135 and the telescopic stock version has an MSRP of $1,150.
Alpha Foxtrot is now shipping the Attila Compact, a double-stack 9mm 1911 that’s small enough to carry.
Double-stack 9mm 1911s are incredibly popular these days, but most are too big and heavy to comfortably carry concealed. Alpha Foxtrot is helping to remedy that with its Attila Compact 1911DS.
Featuring a 3.5-inch barrel with an integrated compensator, it should be supremely shootable despite its small size. Thanks to its slim-profile aluminum frame, it should be pretty light on the belt and easy to conceal, too. It feeds from Glock 43X/48-pattern magazines, and each pistol ships with three Shield Arms mags, including a 10-, 15- and 20-rounder. The 10-rounder offers you ultimate concealability while the 20-rounder offers maximum firepower and a larger grip.
Other features of the Attila Compact include an optics-ready slide (RMR & RMSc footprint), a front night sight, a crisp 4-pound trigger and an ambidextrous safety.
Alpha Foxtrot hasn’t published the Atilla Compact’s MSRP, but online retailer listings have it priced at around $1,000.
With Recover Tactical’s S-PRO conversion kit, you can stock your Glock, Canik or Walther PDP.
Ever since the advent of both the handgun and the longarm, people have been searching for the best way to bridge the gap between the two. The tree created in this quest for compromise has many branches and brought us to entirely new categories (looking at you, PDW). But one of the easiest ways, and first attempts, to clasp hands was simply adding a stock to a sidearm.
This makes a lot of sense. A buttstock increases stability and allows for better recoil management by adding more points of contact with the body. It won’t make a [typically] smaller pistol round hit harder, but it’ll make the shooter more accurate while allowing for faster fire. This is why detachable stocks were seen with some 19th century calvary guns, horseback being a place where the small size and maneuverability of a handgun has advantage but the increased stability of a stock is helpful.
We see the same trend for similar reasons in the early 20th century, though often with aviation and armored vehicles in mind rather than horses. Along with assorted Mauser broomhandles, the Germans had the LP08, essentially a plussed-up Luger with tangent sights and a stock. The Browning Hi-Power, too, received a comparable “artillery” treatment. In the postwar period, the Soviets produced the similarly stocked Stechkin.
Adding a stock to a sidearm to increase stability isn’t a new idea, just less common in America.
But by mid-20th century America, the stocked pistol largely disappeared. The reason for this is twofold: the American military moved toward the submachine gun and the carbine as the preferred middle path (carbines being much easier to train conscripted troops with) and the passing of the National Firearms Act of 1934. After NFA ’34 was enacted, pistols equipped with buttstocks that had barrels under 16 inches were declared short-barreled rifles—and had to be registered and have a $200 tax paid prior to legal possession.
There were outliers in the pistol/carbine conversion camp like the Dardick Model 1500 (a fascinating firearm in its own right) and truly custom pieces like the Bob Loveless S&W Model 41 convertible, but they are few and far between.
The convertible Dardick 1500 is one of the weirdest, coolest guns.
For some perspective, the NFA tax was $200 when the bill was signed in June 1934. If going by mere inflation, that $200 equates to around $4,800 in June 2025—but if we compare it to median income levels it’s the modern equivalent of $13,300. It’s no wonder that development of stocked pistols and conversions died on the vine among the American civilian market for essentially the rest of the 20th century. Now that the SBR tax has been reduced to $0, we may start to see that change.
Brace Yourself
Right around the turn of the millennium you start to see some basic carbine conversions being made in America, like the MechTech CCU, but they didn’t gain popularity until much later—the legal acceptance of pistol braces being the main reason.
Originally introduced in 2012 as a way for some disabled shooters to better stabilize so-called “large format” (read: rifle caliber) pistols, braces quickly became a legalese workaround for the more casual ownership and importation of short-barreled rifles. In the decade-plus that followed spanning several presidential administrations, the government would change their mind several times, release contrary determination letters, add and remove restrictions, follow shadowy regulations, classify braced guns as unregistered SBRs, and pass out free tax stamps—all before ultimately vacating their previous rulings. A big mess of their own making. Despite the current legal acceptance of braces on pistols at the time of writing, here we’re using a Glock receiver already registered as an SBR to avoid any gray areas.
As to why would someone need a “brace” on a regular pistol? A gun ready-made for one-handed use? While there’s a case scenario someplace because there always is, the simple answer is that a brace is really used as a buttstock—and everyone already knows that anyway. Like the glass “tobacco pipes” at the head shop, you’re just not supposed to say it out loud. Oops.
The reality is that the design of most braces make them middlin’ buttstocks at best. They’re often not adjustable, flimsy, with poor surface for purchase against the shoulder (to better defend yourself in court). That said, these aren’t universal traits, and even a bad brace/buttstock can increase stability by offering more points of contact with the body.
The LOP is enough that you can use your slide-mounted dot.
Simply Israeli
When we published a Glock Stock Buyer’s Guide back in RECOIL Issue 44 back in 2019, more than half of these pistol-to-carbine conversion kits originated in Israel. And in CONCEALMENT Issue 19 we followed up with the predecessor to what you see here, the Recover Tactical 20/20 Stabilizer Kit, which also hails from there. In fact, the bulk of these conversions come out of Israel, and that’s not for no reason.
Though you’ve undoubtedly seen plenty of pictures of IDF troops slinging rifles around cities, gun ownership for citizens of Judea is quite tight. There has been some recent loosening of laws, but Tel Aviv is still nothing close to Tulsa; there are strict requirements regarding who can own guns and what type and quantity they can possess as well as how much ammo they can have on-hand.
Oftentimes people will only have one gun, and usually that one gun is a pistol. But as pistol/carbine conversion is an accessory rather than a firearm, it doesn’t require any additional paperwork for use in many jurisdictions. Israel definitely doesn’t have the American National Firearms Act so there’s no barrel length nonsense, but they will play into the brace/stabilizer aspect in order to sell on the American market.
In short, if these kind of conversion kits don’t make sense to you, it’s because they weren’t really made for you. They are made first for Israeli citizens, with the American consumer market as a secondary concern.
Recover Tactical S-PRO
Founded by Tamir Porat, the man behind the love-it-or-hate-it Tavor bullpup rifle, Recover Tactical isn’t new to either the Israeli or American market. They first caught our eye by releasing add-a-rail adapters for older pistols, something that makes more sense when viewed from the perspective of modernized a “only one gun.”
The full kit has a lot of parts, pieces, and fasteners—but also a lot of options.
Back in 2020 they released the 20/20 Glock Stabilizer Kit, and while it’s tempting to say the S-PRO is a more-modular updated and upgraded version, it’s simply not this case because this is a whole different thing.
The real structural component of the S-PRO is the Main Frame, a metal spine with plastic carapace to which most fasteners secure and internally houses the stock/brace rod. Without this piece, there is no S-PRO. Adapters are used to hold the gun to the spine, with different adapters for different guns (at the time of writing you can get them for Glock. Canik, PDP, with the SIG X Macro listed as “coming soon,” though due to the nature of the platform the sky is the limit). The two-piece rear adapter holds the beavertail, and the front clamshell nestles around the trigger guard and clicks into place. Unlike the 2020 model, insertion and removal of the pistol is toolless and only takes seconds.
After your initial setup, the S-PRO doesn’t look so daunting.
The buttstock/brace is also modular and can be configured for left- or right-handed use (with a “real” buttstock option available). Also included is a barrel shroud with M-Lok slots, which acts as a secondary locking mechanism for the front clamshell adapter, a forward spare magazine holder that prosecutors probably/hopefully/maybe won’t consider a vertical grip, and a high-rise optic mount. The reason for the high optic mount is that when your length of pull, the distance from your trigger to the end of your stock (and shoulder), is too short, low optics can be hard or impossible to use. While the LOP and angle of the stock rod on the S-PRO is actually sufficient for many to use slide-mounted optics, it was a nice inclusion.
And oh yeah, the stock rod is spring-loaded and pops out like a switchblade with the press of a button. Recover Tactical seems to have learned the lesson of Flux Defense that cool is the first rule, and spring-loaded is definitely cool.
Quirks & Weirdness On The Range
Once the gun is inside the S-PRO, physically racking the slide becomes extremely difficult. It’s for this reason that Recover Tactical includes a new clip-on charging handle. The main problem being that it was designed only with non-optic OEM Glocks in-mind, rear grooves and all. In fact, everything about the S-PRO is essentially only for OEM. The adapters rely on the critical dimensions of the rear beavertail and the front curve of the triggerguard. Aftermarket Glock frames or any modifications that change those dimensions will make the S-PRO a non-starter.
You can run with two optics to confuse your friends and confound your enemies.
All isn’t lost, however. If you’re already running an optic on your slide, you can simply use the optic as the charging handle—and if you can’t use the optic on your gun as a charging handle, you shouldn’t be using that optic on your gun. It’s noteworthy that the high-rise optic and a slide-riding optic can both be mounted at the same time, to confuse your friends and confound your enemies if nothing else.
Here we purchased a metal Glock “racker jacker” rear plate replacement for Jackson to fill the role. It was originally ambi, but a Dremel tool took care of that quickly.
In terms of performance? A stock helps you do things faster. There’s an included cheekpiece you can bolt onto the rear for use with the high-rise optic but it didn’t really seem to be needed. The main complaint is that the stock rod has flex in it. While the main body spine may have a lot of metal in it, the stock rod feels flimsy and insufficient in actual use—it torques and twists with pressure and I don’t think I’d feel comfortable using this setup with an autosear. Damn.
Loose Rounds
The S-PRO improves on the Recover Tactical 20/20 system in many ways. It’s toolless after setup. It’s modular and able to accommodate a wider variety of arms. It allows for more accessories. It has that movie-cool switchblade stock. But the stock rod itself is a fatal flaw; hopefully they’ll add some more ounces to address it.
Using different multi-piece rear adapters and hinging front adapters which in turn bolt onto the main frame, the S-PRO can accommodate different pistols. However, the entire system is designed for the curves of OEM guns—no guarantees your modded frame will fit, and the included charging handle doesn’t work with optics or aftermarket slides (we made our own solution for $20, and you can too).
There are a lot of complicated clamshell carbine conversions out there. Though they’re technically convertibles, most of them should be thought of as semi-permanent because they take tools and/or time measured in minutes. This isn’t one of them, because popping a pistol inside the S-PRO only takes seconds (albeit with an asterisk attached, depending on your setup). This ease of conversion means you’re more likely to actually use it at home or on the range, which makes a lot of sense for a nation where if you own a gun, it’s probably just the one.
When it comes to home defense training, you have to train like you intend to fight.
In 2013, I hunted with some American war fighters on the U.S. Army’s base in Hohenfels, Germany. That was an interesting experience—a story for another time—and it has nothing to do with home defense. However, while I was in Germany, I went to a Pond Training Academy. At that time, Pond was conducting some of the security at the gates to the Hohenfels Army base, and in the Pond Academy, they had a unique shooting range.
That shooting range does have something to do with home defense.
In the basement of the academy, they had a video range, where they would play video on the large movie screen and cadets could engage targets in the video. A unique light system marked their shots, and the video could be replayed to see where they hit. This was a very cool range experience, and I got to shoot on it with a rifle and with a handgun.
With the rifle, I shot running boar targets, and with the handgun, I shot cartoons. (In Germany, it was against the law for non-security or law enforcement to shoot at humanoid targets.) The video range training for the Pond security cadets was custom tailored to the job they were going to perform.
The academy had video of the gates at Hohenfels base where the Pond officers worked, and in this video they had various scenarios on film for the cadets to respond to with firearms. Talk about training like you intend to fight, this video system put the security officers in the field where they would actually be working and allowed them to respond to nefarious actions like they might have to in real life.
Training like you intend to fight is nothing new. The U.S. Army and American law enforcement switched to humanoid targets a long time ago. At Gunsite, Jeff Cooper began crafting shooting drills that mirrored real-life and/or imagined incidents, and ever since then combat pistol competitions have been built around theoretical—but of course highly unlikely—self-defense scenarios.
It’s a training concept that’s very old and one that’s routinely used in sports: You practice like you intend to play.
How does all this dovetail into home defense? Well, it’s very simple.
If it’s your desire to be able to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones in your home, you should train for that exact circumstance. Sure, shooting a handgun, shotgun or carbine is the same no matter where you’re shooting them—sights on target/trigger press—but practice and training for the exact situation you might have to encounter goes a step further. Of course, you cannot go to some video range where there will be a video of your home with bad guys attacking you and for you to shoot at.
But you can simulate the experience.
Practice executing your home defense plan with the gun(s) you will actually use.
Make a Plan
The first thing you need to do is make a plan, and the plan needs to be multi-faceted to include various points of potential entry, various locations you would likely respond from, and it needs to address not just you, but everyone in the household. If someone busts through your front door while you’re eating dinner, how do you respond and what should everyone else in your home immediately do?
Home defense can be inside or outside. One plan is not enough. You need to have a comprehensive multifaceted plan.
A book could be written about proper planning and all the variables for dealing with a home invasion. There are so many different homes containing so many different family units that could be attacked, from so many different points of entry, that proper planning just cannot be covered in this format. However, we can look at a hypothetical situation and examine how we might create a training program to help us prepare for it.
Situational Considerations
Let’s imagine you live in a home with a floor plan as shown below. Let’s also imagine you want to devise a plan to deal with a two-attacker home invasion through your front door while you’re eating dinner. And finally, let’s assume your home is occupied by you, your wife and your 6-year-old son. The first thing I would do is invite two of my shooting friends over for dinner, but before dinner I would let them play the bad guys and walk through a home invasion scenario several times. This will give you some insight as to what the attackers’ movements might be as well as what your response could be.
This is a very simplified home defense plan but illustrates most considerations and shows what a range card looks like.
The goal here is three-fold. First, you want to familiarize yourself and your family with how everything might unfold. Secondly, you want to devise your plan of response. And finally, you want to identify the locations, situations and targets you might have to engage. Essentially, you are creating a mental video you can play out at the range. Granted, this is a very simplified plan and as with most tactical considerations, there is always more than one answer. However, it serves to illustrate the point.
Make a Range Card
A range card is a standard shooting tool used by the military and snipers. It details your field of fire and where potential targets are. In a combat situation, the actual range—distance to targets—is important, but in a home defense situation it’s generally not. You want to create a range card that will detail your planned point of defense and the potential locations of possible threats. Drawing it out is not a bad idea, because it can help you illustrate your plan to other family members, but in most cases a mental picture is sufficient.
This live-fire drill is a companion to the home defense plan also illustrated. It replicates the potential shooting scenario detailed in the plan.
When you’re creating this range card, you should also take note of the cover and concealment you and your attackers might use. For example, if there is a dividing wall the attacker might hide behind, is it a solid wall or just a shell wall? If it’s solid, you cannot shoot through it, but if you see an attacker duck behind a shell wall, you can. Most furniture will not stop bullets, and while it can provide concealment, it is not cover.
If your plan is to gain cover or concealment behind a barrier/wall, practice shooting from behind a barricade.
Live Fire
Once you have a range card, go to the range and practice the shots you will probably need to make, at the distances relative to your home. When you’re competent at getting hits, set up a stage reflecting the situation and the range card, and run through it while engaging the targets. Start slow, like a walkthrough, and then advance to real time. The training stage example below assumes you are wearing your home defense handgun in a holster while you’re eating dinner.
Your planning, training and live fire should incorporate how to utilize the concealment and cover you have identified.
However, when you make your plan, consider situations and build a range card, and do it realistically to represent where your gun might be in a real-life situation. If you keep your gun on top of the refrigerator, in the nightstand, or maybe in a gun safe, all this needs to be reflected in your plan and range card, and it will dictate your plan … and ultimately the training stage you set up.
Where you will keep your gun at home will directly influence any home defense plan you make.
Force on Force
Once you have worked through the training stage at the range that will likely replicate a real-life home invasion, you should then do a walkthrough at home, with your family and your two shooting friends. Invite them over for dinner again and simulate the scenario. If you’re smart, you will arm yourself and your friends with airsoft guns and give everyone a face shield. This not only adds some fun to the exercise, but it also adds adrenalin and can highlight flaws in your plan that might cause you to rethink everything.
Airsoft guns can offer a realistic experience, and through force-on-force exercises, they can highlight flaws in your plan.
Depending on the situation and where you keep your gun, the best plan may be to retreat to another room that is easier to defend. It might make you rethink where everyone normally sits at the dinner table. One thing you want to do is require your wife and son to react as planned when the exercise begins. Where do they go, where is the phone to call 911, and who is going to make the call?
You need to know who is going to call 911 and make arrangements for a phone to be where they are going to safety.
Train Like You’ll Fight
The underlying premise here is to evaluate the unknown. You and your family are mostly finding answers for questions that might be asked. As Jeff Cooper explained in his book, Principles of Personal Defense: “Short of extensive personal experience, which most of us would rather not amass, the best way to cultivate such tactical decisiveness is through hypothesis: ‘What would I do if … ?’ By thinking tactically, we can more easily arrive at correct tactical solutions, and practice even theoretical practice tends to produce confidence in our solutions, which, in turn, makes it easier for us, and thus quicker, to reach a decision.”
Principles of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper.
Unfortunately, few if any of us have access to a video range, where we can watch and shoot at the screen where images of our own home being invaded is playing out. But we can plan and train accordingly. This is not a new or revolutionary concept. If you train like you’ll fight, you will fight like you have trained. And if you trained well enough, you’ll win.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Springfield Armory has just announced three new Aimpoint COA-equipped Echelon models.
When the Aimpoint COA and its neat new A-CUT mounting system were announced last year, many shooters were excited to get their hands on it. The ability to do so was limited, however, due to it being exclusively available on Glocks for the first year and those sales being limited to MIL and LE customers for much of that time frame. Thankfully, that 1-year exclusivity window has recently ended, and Aimpoint COA red dots are starting to become available on a wider variety of handguns. The latest to be announced is the Springfield Echelon, with COA variants being offered for the 4.0C, 4.0FC and 4.5F models.
The Springfield Echelon left our team impressed, but the new optic option should help make it even better. The trick behind the Aimpoint COA is twofold: there’s the red dot itself, and there’s its A-CUT mounting system. The COA is a rugged yet lightweight closed-emitter optic that features a 3.5-MOA dot, a huge 15x15mm lens and an excellent battery life. Meanwhile, the A-CUT mount dovetails the entire optic into the slide of the Echelon and secures it via a front hook and rear wedge. This system keeps recoil forces acting on the dovetail rather than the mounting screws, making for a very solid, durable lockup that retains zero extremely well, and also allows for co-witnessing iron sights due to how low it’s mounted. All in all, a very cool system.
Steve Kramer, Vice President of Marketing for Springfield Armory, said this about the new optics-equipped pistols:
We are extremely proud to announce the launch of these Aimpoint COA-equipped Springfield Armory pistols … Pairing the Aimpoint COA closed-emitter optic with these dedicated A-CUT Springfield Armory pistols makes for a combination ideal for facing the most demanding situations and environments.
The MSRP for all three new Springfield Echelon COA models is $1,120 and they’re available now. Springfield says that 1911 DS Prodigy and 1911 COA models will eventually be available as well.
Mossberg has just announced a special edition Bliksem version of the Mossberg 590 pump-action firearm.
The 590 Shockwave just got cooler, as Mossberg has announced the special edition Bliksem version of the 12-gauge pump-action firearm. It’s made in collaboration with Christian Craighead and his brand, Ministry of Defence (MOD). If you don’t know Craighead, he’s the SAS bloke who saved hundreds of hostages in Nairobi after single-handedly storming the hotel to engage their terrorist captors back in 2019. If that wasn’t enough, he looked really damn cool while doing it.
Speaking of cool-looking, the new Mossberg 590 Bliksem. Basically a 590 Shockwave at its core, the Bliksem features a 14.375-inch heavy-walled barrel, a 5+1 capacity and a bird’s head grip. Naturally, the special edition version has a few tricks up its sleeve. It comes standard with a Picatinny rail on its receiver, a Coyote Brown Esstac 6-shotshell carrier card and a very cool Rhodesian Brushstroke camouflage finish. The rest of its features are what you’d expect in a standard Shockwave.
Richard Kirk, Senior Director of Marketing for Mossberg, said this about the Bliksem:
Our collaboration with Christian Craighead was a natural fit … He understands gear that needs to perform in the real world, and together we built a 590 that’s as tough, practical, and unapologetically stylish as the people who rely on it.
Christian Craighead said this about the pump-action:
Mossberg understands function over flash, and that’s why this collaboration worked … We designed the 590 Bliksem to be practical, durable, intuitive and some might say most importantly, cool – qualities that matter far more than marketing lines. It’s a solid bit of hardware.
Here are a few things you should consider when choosing or building home defense guns.
When things go bump in the night, there are of course some things to consider before you start bumping back. The gun community has been a mixed bag of sorts lately with products and technology coming out at a blistering rate thanks to changes in legislature and the expansion of the broader consumer base. There are more gun owners on a much wider spectrum of diversity than ever before, and this has inadvertently led to less tribal knowledge, less general understanding of technology and a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation with the spread of information.
Something I’ve paid a great deal of attention to in the past few years has been the growing number of so-called experts who are little more than entertainers in tactical kit. Somehow, each of these guys is former special forces, a SEAL team member, SWAT sniper … whatever. I know and work closely with all of the aforementioned characters, and most things being promoted by entertainers are just straight-up fictional, and in many cases, simply there to encourage people to buy their snake oil.
Self-defense isn’t a cookie-cutter thing, and a lot of what is being marketed to you are gimmicks. So, let’s break it down a little bit: Here are the major considerations you must address before building out a gun for your home defense needs.
The Terrain
Your home and property are a form of terrain, just like being in the woods. You have elevations, blind spots, hiding places, areas to protect and others to flee. You might think you know your home very well, but problems arise when you must think of your place as a dynamic environment that can get you killed.
Think about this: It’s dark and you’ve had a late night, watching movies with the wife. She’s doing something or other in the house, but you’re having a drink before bed and wander into the garage for a minute … and suddenly you hear a window break and she starts screaming. Where are the kids? Is this a prank? Where is your gun? You also don’t know exactly where your wife is. Is she in the bathroom down the hall or in the master bedroom? Could she be downstairs?
Your home has now become a three-dimensional space with an unknown threat. Now, you need to navigate this to keep everyone safe. It could be a bear depending on what part of the country in which you reside, or maybe a guy obsessed with your teen daughter. Predator or pervert, you’ve got to make some fast decisions.
Knowing your terrain and how to navigate in an environment where your kids will likely be awake now, confusion abounds and dangers are unknown. What you do next will be important. Locating your family members is critical—bullets don’t care who is behind that thin sheet of drywall. Homes are very easy to shoot through. You can’t just start shooting until you are line of sight with a threat, and that can be difficult in any structure.
Knowing your layout, location of weapons and the locations of your family members are very critical to keeping everyone safe. Once a gun is in play, your structure is no longer safe for anyone; it’s the fact of firing in a home. Even if they are directly behind you, the danger of incoming fire is present as well. You need to find places you can defend that also don’t endanger your loved ones, which can be difficult in most homes.
So, with all this front of mind, are you building out a home gun because you like it … or because you’ve done the homework and it’s suited to your specific home terrain?
Caliber and Size
It’s my belief that any self-defense pistol set up for use in the home should be able to be operated at least by the adults in the household, and the older children should have general knowledge and training with it as well. In general, this means that whatever pistol I set up should feature ambidextrous controls. For instance, many members of my family are left-handed, whereas I am right-handed. Any gun used for defense should at least be able to be trained on with the weak hand. Many pistols out there today are effectively ambidextrous; this set of features is no longer difficult to find.
There is a prevailing belief that “nightstand” pistols can be larger and more powerful, but I don’t agree with this. Being easy to handle and fire is much better than greater power. If your wife has a hard time operating a semi-automatic pistol, but has an easy time with a revolver, a revolver should be what you train and practice with. If you’re incapacitated or shot, the last thing you want is your wife unable to chamber a round or manipulate all the controls.
Despite being a reliable self-defense tool for generations, the fashion in pistols has swung away from the humble “snub-nose” revolver to guns like the Staccato. In a long survey of self-defense trainers, most won’t even teach the pocket revolver, and some don’t even want them in classes.
Suppressors on pistols in the home … well, I’m not convinced it’s a smart move. As suppressors are gaining popularity, they have definitely found their way onto home defense pistols, but it’s not all roses. I am not a big fan of them from the perspective that they tend to add a lot of forward weight, are harder to point and handle, and can adversely affect reliability. As a generality, they are going to basically double the length of your pistol, and suppressors, while reducing noise, can interfere with lights and optics. If you want to do this, you need to spend a lot more time practicing and training with your setup … in the dark.
Onboard Technology
Take note: Smoothly operating technology is something that is more important than the most advanced technology. If you are equipping your pistol with a red-dot, light and all the bells and whistles, it better not be too complicated to use if you are incapacitated. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a regular 1911 and a flashlight; you’ve been coerced into believing that all of the stuff needs to be in one place.
To mount a flashlight or to not mount a flashlight, that is the question. There are benefits to having a light on your gun, but there are also many tactical advantages to having a handheld—namely you won’t have to have your gun pointing at every place you need to scan, like places that may contain friendlies.
The shooting industry, unfortunately, does a good job gaslighting people into buying more products because that’s what instructors in the military use, but you’re not going to have the support of those people or that military industrial complex when something bad happens at your house. If it’s too complicated for all of your family members to use, don’t use it. If your wife has a hard time using a pistol-mounted red-dot, don’t use it.
I don’t have the answer for what’s best for you. But I can tell you that overdoing it is a recipe for disaster, considering that there is a steeper proficiency curve the more items you add onto your pistol.
Safety Features and Storage
A big part of owning a gun is being safe about it. Just like racing to put all of the possible accessories onto your gun is something of a fool’s errand, if you can’t master the basics, getting all that equipment and then simply leaving it in a drawer unattended is a pretty bad option—even if it’s just from an investment standpoint.
As mentioned, complicated features can lead to liabilities, but complicated storage can lead to inaccessibility. There is a pretty wide margin between leaving a loaded pistol out in the open and leaving it empty in a safe. Today, there are quite a few options for safe storage, and our community has been slowly embracing them, among these are keypad and biometric options that allow quick access but remain secure. These are not exactly gun safes and should not take their place, but they do keep unwanted users from gaining immediate access. I strongly recommend looking into options from Hornady.
Additionally, there’s a bit of a debate about manual safeties and their advantages … and disadvantages. Most striker-fired pistols don’t have an easily verifiable way to show if the pistol is loaded or empty. Guns that have both striker fire mechanisms and manual safeties are not as common as those that have exposed hammers, such as a 1911. It’s very easy to, even from a distance, see if the 1911 is ready to fire.
Pistol lights vary quite a bit in size and length. Note that some of these stick out past the muzzle, thus increasing length. The size of light you use doesn’t matter so much in a drawer, but it will if you carry.
Manual safeties are definitely a bonus for safety in the home; however, they are one more thing to keep in mind under stress. You will find that there are a variety of schools of thought that go into this, and at the end of the day you’re going to have to figure out what’s best for you and your family.
The Big Question
Home defense rifles are not a new concept, but their expanding popularity in recent years has led to a lot of disinformation. A big one I hear is that 5.56 NATO is not “good at penetration” and is pretty safe to use in a standard residential structure. I’ve even heard from experts that it’s safer to use than high-mass pistol rounds, such as 9mm or .45 ACP. This is simply not true.
A 5.56 NATO bullet can and will penetrate walls. It’s an absolutely serious, lethal, high-penetration cartridge (as always, bullet dependent) that can very easily do damage several rooms over.
The same concepts apply to shotguns: Shotguns are some of the worst offenders for multi-wall penetration. Despite the fact that they have been the quintessential home defense firearm for generations, it’s the fact that they have been around so commonly that led to this, not out of any real purposeful design. If a shotgun is what you have, again, training and situational awareness are paramount.
Any rifle cartridge you use is going to be considerably more powerful than your home materials can withstand—7.62×39, .308 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, you name it. A while ago on these pages, I wrote about a concept that I dubbed Schrodinger’s bullet, where we basically ask a bullet to kill a bad guy, but not cause excessive penetration in walls or create liability for nearby individuals. We are asking too much of bullets if that’s the case. There is no such bullet that will simply stop in a bad guy that can’t first make it through clothing to his vital organs.
Your home defense setup can and will kill your family members or neighbors by accident. Expect any home defense setup to go through walls—period.
Watch Your Weight
Many shooters have become obsessed with taking up every bit of real estate on a long-gun these days. I tend to trick out my field rifles. I simply like good-looking guns. However, I would be lying if I told you that these were ideal setups for home defense.
The rifle featured in this article is a PWS chambered in 6ARC and features an 18-inch barrel, a suppressor, a thermal optic from Armasight and a day optic package from Vortex. This rifle, loaded, weighs 16 pounds and is a rifle I used for hunting and usually off of a tripod. Despite the fact that it looks like a useful setup, it’s not easy to move around the home with. The optics on this rifle alone account for several pounds, and the suppressor adds weight and length to the front of the rifle.
It used to be taught that you wanted a compact package that you could operate off of either shoulder, and it would be light and handy. Most of my friends’ home defense rifles are so encrusted in gear that they’re approaching boat-anchor territory. The overly commercialized industry and gear-junkie instructors would have you preparing to invade Afghanistan again with what is commonly being pushed.
On the other hand, a bone-stock M16 A1 weighs less than half of this despite being “outdated.” In our day and age, iron sights are often completely overlooked for more complicated optics. However, in doing shoot houses and other training exercises, there is no real difference in speed between dots and irons inside close quarters. But I did notice LPVO optics are decidedly slower, yet do offer advantages the second you enter open areas. Weight as a consideration needs to be addressed: The more you add to a rifle, the harder it will be to operate by family members.
Less clutter and more function are exactly where you should start.
An AR with a suppressor can be quite long and unwieldy. Since ARs are usually compared to others of their kind, the author threw in a new CMP M1 rifle to show the scale. Adding frontal length and weight dramatically influences maneuverability. In fact, the M1 isn’t the heaviest rifle in this photo.
Slings and Things
There is debate around accessories like slings on rifles and shotguns for the home. I’ve heard both camps, and I can see all the sides. One says yes to slings because you can have a gun handy if moving kids or an injured person. On the other hand, they are easy to catch on things, grab onto and can generally snag easily while moving.
This is one you’re going to have to determine for yourself, but my middle ground is to have a sling that is tightly secured to the gun but easily deployed. Likewise, it would be a good idea to attach a tourniquet to the stock as well.
Lights and lasers are a mixed bag. A good defensive carbine is benefited by a light, although it does give your position away and can wash out optics in closed spaces. I’m not a big fan of lasers, as visible day lasers are not as fast or easy to use as you might expect, and infrared lasers require you to cut your power and put on your NVDs. I know some guys who do, but it’s a lot to go through when you’re already in an emergency and seconds count.
Preparing for Reality
If you’re a student of history or are the victim of your upper-level management handing out copies to promote sales strategy and synergy in the office, Sun Tsu’s The Art of War talks about the need to prepare accordingly for conflict, not about every kind of sword or spear. While the book could more easily be summed up as a collection of common-sense anecdotes repackaged for sheepdog guys to start PowerPoint presentations, there is a shocking lack of basic common sense in home defense instruction and training.
We’ve been looking at the wrong things in the wrong ways, and it’s a shame. You should be building a gun for your own exact reality, not warfare or team exercises despite how cool they look. Traumatic injury training is lacking virtually everywhere. Common sense says you have a weapon that causes harm, yet we don’t emphasize that angle.
Take a minute and look at your terrain, your rooms, and your strong and weak points. Think about whether you’d have to carry a child or if you get stabbed. Where are your medical supplies? Do your kids know how to stop bleeding? What if your toddler is shot? Grim, right? That’s reality, and adding more accessories to your gun isn’t going to teach your wife to pack a gunshot wound with underwear.
Building a gun is the last thing you need to worry about in defending yourself—surviving is. Your guns should be simple, reliable and not just for you. You might be the one who needs defending in the end.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking for a backpack loaded with tactical features but without the tactical look? That’s exactly what 5.11’s LVC12 offers.
We’ve all seen the gray man memes online. Maybe you even know someone who dresses that way in real life. They think they’re blending in, but in reality, they’re sticking out. Wraparound sunglasses, tactical pants and cop boots are the fashion equivalent of putting a Glock bumper sticker on your truck. You’re just announcing to the world that you have a gun. There are better ways to add functional capability to your wardrobe without the tactical aesthetic, and as far as backpacks are concerned, 5.11 offers exactly that with its LVC12.
The 5.11 LVC12 isn’t covered in MOLLE webbing or Velcro for your coolguy patches, and it’s not offered in camo patterns or overly tactical colors. It’s designed to be truly camouflaged in an urban environment. Frankly, it looks boring and generic, but that’s exactly what you want. My LVC12, which is pictured in this article, is in Dark Earth. That’s frankly the most tactical color it comes in, but it’s offered in plenty of other shades too, like blue and red, to look as unassuming as possible.
The LVC12 in Peacock blue.
Despite its pedestrian appearance, the 5.11 LVC12 is anything but. This bag is loaded with features that make it easy to stay armed and protected in public.
For example, it has an ambidextrous quick-access CCW pocket for carrying a handgun. The pocket even has Velcro lining and a strap inside for securing your holster to facilitate a rapid draw.
The bag’s rear compartment is also sized to accommodate either a laptop or a large SAPI plate and features a strap to hold everything in place. Hidden inside that compartment is access to another thinner pouch designed to hold a soft body armor panel. Whether you want to run two layers of armor or just one or the other, the LVC12 can keep you well-protected in a pinch.
For carrying something a bit more substantial than a handgun, the main compartment is easily large enough to accommodate a smaller PCC like an MP5K or a very short AR. The main compartment can open 270 degrees and also features Velcro lining for organizational straps to keep a gun or any other gear secure.
The LVC12 just barely zips closed on my AP5SD, and that’s only with the suppressor removed. A smaller PCC would be more ideal.
Other more general features of the bag include two large and stretchy water bottle/gear pockets, a fleece-lined top pocket, a hidden zippered front pocket and an internal mesh pocket in the main compartment. For comfortable carry, it also has a padded back panel and an adjustable chest strap. For additional storage space, the LVC12 also features straps for attaching a 5.11 LV6 waist pack to the outside.
If you’re looking to be well armed and armored while blending in, the 5.11 LVC12 is worth checking out. It has an MSRP of $160.
We look at the Bruen Decision and why America’s historical gun culture still matters in modern court cases.
For decades, courts treated the Second Amendment differently from every other constitutional right. Judges weighed individual liberty against government interests, balancing policy preferences rather than examining history.
That era is over, as confirmed in the Bruen opinion.
Today, courts are being asked a simpler, but far more uncomfortable, question: Is a modern gun law consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the United States?
Answering that question requires confronting a reality many would prefer to ignore: American gun culture is not an accident of modernity. It is deeply rooted in law, practice and expectation.
When History Became Decisive
Modern Second Amendment litigation now turns on historical grounding. Courts increasingly demand evidence that contemporary restrictions resemble those accepted at the time of the founding.
This shift has exposed a serious problem for gun control advocates. Many popular regulatory ideas, like broad public carry bans, categorical disarmament of non-violent citizens and restrictions based on weapon capacity or technology, have little historical precedent.
The record of early America is not one of widespread disarmament. It is one of widespread armament.
What the History Shows
Colonial and early American laws repeatedly assumed that peaceable citizens would be armed. Governments mandated ownership, encouraged carry and punished neglect, not possession.
There is no tradition of banning arms based on their effectiveness. Repeating firearms existed before the Bill of Rights, and no laws restricted their capacity. There is no tradition of prohibiting carry across vast categories of public life. In fact, many public spaces explicitly required arms.
Perhaps most importantly, there is no historical tradition of disarming citizens solely because they were disfavored, unpopular or had committed minor, nonviolent offenses. Disarmament, when it occurred, was temporary and tied to demonstrated dangerousness, not status.
Dangerousness Vs. Disfavor
This distinction now sits at the center of modern legal debates.
Historically, communities acted to restrain individuals who posed credible threats of violence. But those actions were narrow, targeted and rooted in specific conduct. They were not blanket prohibitions applied to broad classes of people, as with, for instance, 18 USC 922 (g)(1), which makes it unlawful for anyone “who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” to possess a firearm or ammunition.
Modern laws often invert this principle, imposing lifetime bans based on labels rather than behavior. Courts are increasingly skeptical of that approach, and history gives them reason to be.
Analogues, Not Excuses
A critical misunderstanding has emerged in the wake of Bruen: the belief that courts must find an exact historical twin for every modern gun regulation. That is not the standard. History does not operate with carbon copies, and the Supreme Court has been clear that what matters are analogues, laws that reflect the same underlying principle, not merely the same outward form.
But this clarification cuts both ways. While governments need not identify a regulation identical in wording or scope, they must still demonstrate a genuine historical tradition that justifies the modern burden imposed on the right. That requirement has proven difficult because many contemporary gun laws are not modest evolutions of historical practices, but categorical innovations.
For example, founding-era regulations aimed at preserving public order were typically narrow and individualized. Surety laws required a specific showing that a particular person posed a credible threat, and even then, they rarely imposed outright disarmament. Instead, they required financial assurances tied to future conduct. Likewise, “going armed” statutes punished the misuse of arms in a threatening manner, not their peaceful possession or carriage.
By contrast, many modern statutes operate in reverse. They presume dangerousness from status alone, impose lifetime prohibitions untethered from conduct, and apply broadly without individualized findings. The historical record provides little support for that approach. Indeed, the absence of sweeping disarmament laws in a far more violent and unstable era speaks volumes.
This is why history has become such a powerful constraint in modern litigation. It does not merely inform constitutional interpretation; it limits it. Legislatures may pursue public safety, but they must do so within the boundaries of traditions that treated arms as normal instruments of lawful citizenship, not privileges to be revoked by default.
The Marketing Myth Fails Under Scrutiny
Claims that American gun culture was manufactured by 19th-century advertising also fare poorly in court. Judges are not persuaded by sociological theories when faced with statutes that required firearms centuries earlier.
History shows demand preceding industry, not the reverse. That matters legally, because rights do not arise from marketing campaigns. They arise from our nature, longstanding practice and recognition.
Why This Matters Beyond the Courtroom
These legal battles are not abstractions. They shape how millions of Americans live, train and defend themselves.
But they also reveal something deeper: the erosion of historical literacy has consequences. When courts and communities forget what early America actually looked like, policy debates drift into fiction.
The renewed emphasis on history is not a threat to liberty. It is its safeguard.
Conclusion: History Has Entered the Record
For years, history was treated as an inconvenience in Second Amendment cases. Today, it is evidence.
And the evidence is clear. American gun culture was neither marginal nor manufactured. It was foundational. Courts are now rediscovering what early Americans already knew: an armed citizenry was not a problem to be solved, but a solution to be preserved.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 of the best concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
