Colt has just announced the Colt King Cobra Target .22 LR, a “Baby Snake” addition to the company’s serpentine family of revolvers.
Colt began reintroducing its iconic snake revolvers starting with the Cobra series in 2017. Since then, we’ve seen new-production versions of everything from King Cobras to Anacondas to Pythons, both as classic reproductions as well as new, reimagined concepts. One snake revolver we were yet to see reintroduced by Colt was the Diamondback, which was essentially a .22 LR Python that was made from the 60s through the 80s. While the Diamondback name hasn’t made a return, the concept has, and the new rimfire revolver has even more to offer. Named the Colt King Cobra Target .22 LR, when released it will feature a 10-shot cylinder and a choice between two barrel lengths.
Lovingly being referred to as the “Baby Snake”, the new Colt King Cobra Target .22 LR follows the release of the .357 King Cobra Target in 2019. Despite being in the Cobra family which tends to feature vent-rib barrels less often than Colt’s other snake guns, the King Cobra Target .22 LR includes one anyway. This is perhaps another callback to its spiritual successor the Diamondback which featured one as well. Regardless, it provides a very iconic look. The Baby Snakes will feature an all-stainless-steel construction and a shiny, polished finish. Unfortunately, like the new Pythons, blued is not a finish option.
Besides its new 10-shot capacity, the Colt King Cobra Target .22 LR will feature an adjustable target rear sight, a fiber optic front sight and each gun will come with a set of Hogue rubber grips. It will be available with either a 4- or 6-inch barrel, both with a 1:16RH twist. The MSRP or release date is not yet known, but like Colt’s other snake guns, expect it to be expensive. Regardless, this new Baby Snake seems like it will be a nice new premium option for plinkers, competitors or hunters who want Colt-quality in a new-production rimfire revolver.
A look at a Boer War relic and family heirloom from South Africa, a re-barreled Martini-Henry from 1873.
They’re in every family. Guns that are maybe not all that special to their original owners, but guns that families cherish and hold onto. Forever. If, for no other reason, than to keep a loved one who has passed close to their hearts.
If you spend time talking to any longtime gun owner, you can find a good gun story. It might be about their grandfather’s pistol that he took off a German during World War II, or maybe the revolver he carried during Prohibition when he was running moonshine. It might be a story about their father’s old Model 12 Winchester that he handled with the all the grace and skill of an artist’s paintbrush. Or, it could just be about an old Remington 22 rifle their uncle taught them how to shoot with.
These are the guns in our safes or hidden in our closets that’ll never be parted with. These are the guns we’ll pass onto our children, along with the stories that have made them so much a part of our hearts and our family history. And we’ll expect our children to pass the gun and the story along to their offspring. These are the guns that instill that ghostly sensation or make your hands tingle when you pick them up.
There are several guns like that in my safe, and they all have a story that’ll pull a laugh and maybe even draw a tear. On occasion—a rare occasion—you might get to experience a gun like this that doesn’t belong to you. And by experience, I don’t mean to hold and look at it, I mean to shoot or hunt with. I’m talking about guns with history and emotion tied to someone else’s heart. In 2006, just south of the green, greasy Limpopo River in South Africa, I got to handle and hunt with just such a gun.
Arms of the Boers
There were two Boer Wars. The first, from 1880 to 1881, was known as the Transvaal War. It was a brief conflict in which Boer settlers revolted against England’s attempt to annex the Transvaal. In an effort to expand their presence in Africa to include the Dutch Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, England struck again in 1899. The gold mines located there were part of the reason, but Britain also looked to establish a Cape to Cairo confederation of British colonies, which would give England total domination of Africa. The result was a long and bloody war that lasted until 1902.
Though well over 100 years old, this old rifle still functions and shoots well enough to hunt with.
Most Americans have limited interest in, and even less connection to, this war. However, it has intrigued me since my first African safari. Boer is the Dutch word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans speaking, stock-raising farmers who fled the British Cape colony to escape English rule. The area primarily settled by the Boers was the Orange Free State and Transvaal region, which together was known as the Boer Republic.
During the war, the Boers employed a guerrilla method of combat that stretched British logistics to the limits; 22,000 British soldiers died during that war. You would’ve thought British military leaders would’ve learned during America’s war for independence.
The letter “H” has been carved into the stock of the old battle rifle. The owner was unsure of its meaning, saying it had been there for as long as he could remember.
When I was there in 2006, Hennie Badenhorst was the owner of Lyon Safaris. Badenhorst, a veteran of the South African Defense Force, is a very accomplished professional hunter with over 100 lion, buffalo and elephant hunts under his belt. We were sitting by the fire ring one evening watching the flames dance between us when Badenhorst told me, “I have a rifle that was recovered from a battlefield during the Boer War.”
It seems Badenhorst’s great uncle, who was a young boy during the war, was out playing in the bush and came upon the unimaginable scene of a battlefield where he found a dead British soldier. Being the good Boer he was, he picked up the soldier’s rifle and carried it home. It was a late-model Enfield, Martini-Henry rifle chambered for the .303 British cartridge. Badenhorst remembers stories from his grandfather about having to hide the rifle somewhere out behind the house every time British soldiers came by.
The rifle had been in Badenhorst’s family since the war. It was kind of a behind-the-door gun. When Badenhorst left military service and began his career as a professional hunter, he frequently used the rifle when training his blood-trailing hounds. Badenhorst set an empty bottle of lager on the rock rim of the fire ring and asked, “Would you like to shoot it?”
“Absolutely!” I said. “What shall we shoot?”
“Maybe a warthog.” Badenhorst said as he removed his fedora exposing the scars left on his head by an angry leopard. “Tomorrow we will see many warthogs.”
I was excited to see the rifle and especially thrilled to shoot it. Before the hunt the next morning, we stopped by the range and I fired three rounds through the old rifle, just to make sure that I could actually hit something with it. Considering the crude iron sights, it shot well, and I managed a group of about 2 inches at 50 yards. We loaded up in the Land Rover and headed out with the gorgeous African morning sun at our backs.
Though the old Martini rifle is fitted with a tangent-style rear sight, it’s questionable it would match modern ballistics. And, as you can see, the sight leaf has been bent to match the trajectory of modern .303 British ammunition.
The Martini-Enfield Mk II
During the famous battle at Ruark’s Drift in Natal, South Africa, in 1879, where about 150 British troops held off an attack by between 3,000 and 4,000 Zulu warriors, the British were armed with the single-shot Mk2 Martini-Henry rifle chambered for the 577/450 Martini-Henry cartridge.
However, before the second Boer War, British forces began transitioning to the Lee-Metford bolt-action rifle chambered for the .303 British cartridge. Some of the Martini rifles were converted/made to also fire the .303 British. Could this rifle have been one of those that saved the day at the Drift? Unlikely, but possible.
Based on these markings, it’d appear this rifle was re-barreled to the .303 British cartridge in 1902. The original markings on this rifle indicate it to be an 1873 Martini-Enfield Mk II.
Based on markings, Badenhorst’s rifle was originally the Martini-Enfield Mk II of 1873, which, as best as I can decipher, was refitted with a 21-inch barrel as an artillery carbine in .303 British in 1902—the last year of the Boer War. Based on the unit markings on the brass stock pin, this rifle belonged to a soldier of the Royal Hampshire Regiment, which was a line infantry regiment that combined with the 37th North Hampshire Regiment of Foot and the 67th South Hampshire Regiment of Foot in 1881. The regiment served in the Second Boer War as well as the First and Second World Wars. Of course, I’m neither a Martini rifle nor British military expert. Even if I was, the cloud of military firearms manufacturing, refitment and assignment, combined with the fog of war, means my conclusions could be wrong.
After a full evening of hunting wildebeest and bushbuck, Badenhorst finally declared it was time and pulled the old rifle from behind the seat of the Land Rover. He then passed it to me up top in the high rack. Badenhorst said, we’re coming up on a place that’s filthy with warthog. If we can find a nice male that’s within range, we’ll stop and you can take him.
The warthogs were indeed thick and just at dusk, as the necessary light to see iron sights was creeping into the blackness of the African night, Badenhorst picked out a decent warthog at about 100 yards and asked, “Do you think you can take him?”
I shouldered the relic, covered the dark warthog with the triangular front sight, and pulled the crisp trigger, undoubtedly honed from years of use. We heard the “whop” of the bullet and, as they often do even when well hit, the warthog thundered across the veld. Immediately, Badenhorst released his massive tracking dog and moments later we were standing over the beast.
The front sight on the old Boer War rifle was crude but sufficient to take a warthog at about 100 yards in the dusk of Africa.
Badenhorst was all smiles and very proud that the old rifle had once again proven sufficient for the African bush by providing food for his staff. I was all smiles as well. It was an honor to hunt with a rifle with as much history as this one. A rifle that had undoubtedly been fired in anger, but also used by a family to provide security and food for more than a century. It was a rifle that was indelibly linked to the history of Africa, and that my friend cherished and had used on successful hunts as well. It’s also a rifle that, at least for now, no one needs to hide when the army/government comes by.
This Martini-Henry rifle was recovered from a Boer battlefield by the current owner’s great uncle. On occasion, the owner, who operates a successful safari company, still hunts with it.
Your Own Closet Gun
Very likely, and most hopefully, somewhere in your family there’s that special firearm that has a connection to the past. Make sure the story that goes with it is passed on through your descendants. Write it down in as much detail as possible and place the story in the case with the gun. Someday it’ll be even more special to someone else than it is to you.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the July 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
An upcoming Cowan’s Auction will be selling Larry Ness’ collection of frontier-era firearms, including Sitting Bull’s rifle.
Officially titled the Frontier Firearms from the Lifetime Collection of Larry Ness auction, this assortment of frontier-era-related firearms will be up for sale on June 8th, hosted by Cowan’s. There are 244 lots in this auction, the majority of which are frontier-era rifles that have a connection to Native Americans. Many of these guns were owned, used and decorated by Native Americans of the frontier-era Dakota region, but the most famous by far is Sitting Bull’s rifle.
Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader in the Dakota Territory during the 1800s, is likely most famous for supposedly foreseeing a great victory over American forces just three weeks before the Battle of the Little Bighorn where Lt. Col. Custer made his last stand. Even excluding this prophetic vision, Sitting Bull led a very interesting life that is worth reading about, but it came to an end on December 15th, 1890, in South Dakota. After returning to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, fears of him promoting a suspected Native uprising lead to the order for his arrest. While attempting to do so, reservation police shot and killed him. Documentation included with the rifle being sold suggests that it was taken from Sitting Bull’s cabin on the day of his death. The rifle is a Winchester 1st Model 1876 lever-action chambered for .45-75 with a 28-inch octagonal barrel.
Sitting Bull’s rifle has been owned by multiple museums and private collectors over the years, and it’s expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000 in the upcoming Cowan’s auction. If that’s a bit out of your price range, there will be plenty of other interesting, Native American-related firearms for sale that will be much less expensive. The collector, Larry Ness, was a banker in South Dakota for almost 50 years. Many of the other treasures he accumulated during this period will be featured in the June 8th auction.
A sampling of some of the other items for sale from the Larry Ness collection.
To learn more about the firearms listed in this auction or how to bid, please visit hindmanauctions.com.
Turning the twenty-two-caliber AR-15 into a big-bore beast with .458 SOCOM.
Ever wonder just how big a bullet we can hurl out of the standard AR-15 package? Well, Marty Ter Weeme was at a backyard barbecue a couple of decades ago with some guys who can’t put on their résumés where they’ve been and what they’ve done. You know, the lads who now sport beards, go to dusty places and bring surprises to the miscreants they meet.
The question arose because those present had experience at shooting people and weren’t entirely happy with the results they were getting from the M855.
Call Me Thumper
The requirements were simple: It had to be an upper, or a rebuild, that’d work on a standard AR-15/M16/M4 lower. It had to use standard AR-15 magazines. And it had to hit like a sledgehammer.
The .458 SOCOM feeds from a single position in the magazine, and the magazine holds 10 rounds.
Since the users wanted bullet choices that left out the usual suspects back in the pre-9/11 days, those rejected being potential cartridges that used pistol bullets. So, they chose the .458-inch bullet diameter. Next up, the case. What was the fattest case that’d fit through the barrel extension opening?
A .50 AE
However, that case was too short, and the rim too big. So, for the .458 SOCOM, Marty and Tony Rumore of Tromix chose lengthened .50 AE cases and had the brass maker trim the rims down from the .50 AE diameter of .514 to .473 inch.
If that latter number looks familiar, it is. It’s the standard rim diameter of the .30-06 family of cartridges, along with the 8mm Mauser and such. It’s also as big as you can make the AR-15 bolt face and still have enough locking lug metal left to be safe to shoot your rifle.
Here you can see how much the bolt face has to be opened up to accommodate the rim of the .458 SOCOM (Right). Any more and there wouldn’t be a bolt face.
The next step was to decide how much of a case neck to provide and what kind of case capacity, all while keeping one idea in mind: It had to hit like the news of an impending IRS audit. What really decided the case neck dimension were the heaviest bullets—at 500 or 600 grains, you need a lot of neck tension to keep a bullet in place in the case, even if you’re hurling it at less than elephant-whacking velocities.
And the cleverness of the design means it’s a relatively easy build. Heck, it’s as easy as any of them, because you can count on the parts makers keeping things inside the AR-15 envelope. You don’t have to invest in special, proprietary buffer weights or springs. The gas tube you use is the same gas tube you’d use for any other build of the barrel length you’ve chosen.
And magazines are simple: You use regular AR mags. Now, that last part is a bit more, shall we say, variable, than the others. More on that in a bit.
Starting the Mission
I grabbed a Brownells barrel and bolt off the shelf and looked for build candidates. Oh, hey, there’s a complete rifle on the end of the rack with a shot-out bore. (Yes, Virginia, ammo used to be cheap enough that you could wear out a barrel just by shooting.) Out with the old, in with the new.
Brownells’ barrel is clearly marked as to caliber and twist rate.
Old handguard off (so old it’s a quad-rail) and old barrel out. Then, plug the Brownells .458 SOCOM barrel into the upper, tighten the barrel nut (tight-loose-tight-loose-tight to alignment), install a gas tube into a gas block and then install that and tighten it into place. Pick the handguard back off the bench, install, align, tighten.
Grab a scope out of the scope drawer, in its mount, and put on top. Check alignment and also check eye relief. The .458 SOCOM comes back with a certain amount of authority, and you don’t want to be crowding the scope when you touch off one of the robust ones. The likely candidate that was up in the rotation was a Hi-Lux 1-4 in a LaRue QD mount.
Once you get your .458 zeroed and learn to deal with recoil, you can easily find a load that shoots this well.
Luckily, the lower came with a stock on it that has a rubber recoil pad, because cushioning rubber is a handy thing to have on a rifle chambered in .458 SOCOM. The Magpul UBR stock and its rubber recoil pad promised to keep the .458 SOCOM from being too much of a good thing, unlike the hard plastic checkered buttplate you’d find on a mil-spec carbine lower.
Feeding the Beast
The .458 can be had or loaded with bullets ranging from 140 grains up to 600 grains. The lightest-weight ammunition (if we can consider something that tips scales at 140 grains as “light”) leaves your immediate vicinity at more 2,400 fps, depending on barrel length. If you’re using a carbine with a 16-inch barrel, you might fall a few fps short of that. If you’re using a rifle and a 20-inch barrel, you can step on the heels, or even elbow aside, 2,400 fps. That’d be with the Polycase ARX ammunition.
The spectrum of weights you can hurl from a .458 SOCOM. Well, almost. There’s a 140-grain ARX loading that’s speedy to the max.
Up in the midrange bullets—300-, 350- and 400-grainers—you can jar your fillings with velocities in the 1,500- to 1,700-fps range. We’re talking about a 575 to 600 PF momentum.
It gets really interesting when you opt for the real heavyweights. If you move up to 500 grains, you can go for all the gusto, and generate some 1,300 fps out of a full-length barrel for a power factor of 650. Yowza! By comparison, a 12-gauge slug with a 1-ounce projectile at a listed 1,600 fps generates 700 PF, with a trajectory like a softball. The .458 SOCOM treads hard on its heels, but with a flatter (albeit still arcing) trajectory.
Accuracy results are the average of four, five-shot groups, over a Sinclair shooting rest, at 50 yards. Velocity is the average of five shots, measured by a Labradar chrono, programmed to measure velocity 15 feet from the muzzle.
And This Out Of An AR-15
Where the .458 SOCOM gets to be giddy fun is when you go with heavyweight subsonics. A 600-grain JSP (which has no hope whatsoever of expanding, just to be clear) in the subsonic velocity region becomes an entertaining range time. The thump is impressive. The noise, not so much. And whatever you’re shooting at gets thumped…hard. If you then team it up with a suppressor like the Wilson Combat Whisper (which is built to withstand the .458 HAMR, so no worries about your .458 SOCOM), then you won’t even need hearing protection.
It’d be wise to install a muzzle brake or suppressor when you go to shoot your .458 SOCOM.
Well, actually…you might want some. If you’re shooting on a relatively short range, say a 25- or 50-yard backstop, the thump of the bullet hitting the hill might be loud enough that you want a bit of audio suppression.
Odds, Ends
Reloading isn’t difficult. The .458 is like any other bottlenecked rifle cartridge, so you’ll have to lube cases for resizing. Then, clean the lube off for loading. It uses large pistol primers and slow-burning pistol powders or fast-burning rifle powders. For the speedy loads and the heavyweights going through your suppressor, you’ll want to use jacketed bullets. For the heaviest-recoiling loads, you’ll also want to trim cases and apply a firm crimp along with good neck tension.
If you’re interested in lower-cost fun thumping, then you can use coated bullets and load subsonic. Acme bullets makes a .458 SOCOM-specific bullet that’s 576 grains in weight and given a bright red Hi-Tek coating. I have to point out that, unless you’re shooting at steel plates that are both rifle-rated and placed 100 yards away, you shouldn’t be shooting steel with any .458 SOCOM load. As stoutly as it thumps you, it hammers what it hits. Non-rifle-rated steel will be dented. Steel less than perfectly smooth may bounce back fragments—which is why you want to be 100 yards away.
Make life easier, invest in .458-specific magazines and don’t spend expensive ammo testing others.
Oh, and the magazines? Yes, the idea was to make the .458 SOCOM feed out of standard AR magazines. And they usually do. But magazines can vary. You can burn up a lot of ammo determining if the mags you have and are already using will play well with your .458 ammo and rifle. May I suggest investing in 458-specific magazines? DuraMag makes .458-specific magazines, and the rounds are single-stack in the tube (as in any AR-sized magazine) but with .458-shaped feed lips and follower.
Go ahead, nickname your .458 SOCOM AR-15 “Thumper.” That’s what it does—on both ends.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Get On Target With More AR Knowledge
Buyer's Guide to the Best AR-15 Rifles for Any Budget
Holosun has just released the EPS and EPS Carry, two sizes of enclosed reflex optics ideal for both CCW and competition-oriented pistols.
As pistol-mounted red dots become the norm for both competition shooting and concealed carry, Holosun recognized that many shooters would like a familiar design to use for both applications. The company's solution to this is their new EPS and EPS Carry optics, designed to be functionally identical besides their viewing window size and the class of handgun they're intended to be mounted to.
The standard EPS was made with competition shooters in mind with its larger 0.9×0.63-inch viewing window. The EPS Carry instead features a 0.77×0.58-inch window, making it better suited for compact, carry-oriented handguns. Both models feature an enclosed aluminum housing around the emitter to protect it against the elements. This housing is where the EPS and EPS Carry get their name from, as EPS stands for “Enclosed Pistol Sight.” They’re also both rated IPX8 for water and dust resistance, and each optic runs off a single CR1620 battery that can last up to 50,000 hours.
The optics attach using the Holosun “K” series footprint pattern, and both versions feature Shake Awake and Solar Failsafe technology. These help to ensure that the EPS and EPS Carry will always be ready to project their 2-MOA dot whenever you need it, with no need to turn it on or off. There are eight daylight and four night vision brightness settings that can be manually adjusted as well. The optics’ deck is also low enough to allow for simultaneous use with standard-height iron sights.
Each optic includes a multi-tool, lens cloth and user manual, and both the EPS and EPS Carry are available with a green or a red dot. MSRP for the standard models is $435.28 and $458.81 for the Carry versions.
Taurus has just announced the 856 Executive Grade revolver, the first of the company’s new line of factory-modified and improved handguns.
Taurus has just launched a new series of “executive-grade” handguns, starting with the release of the 856 Executive Grade revolver. What distinguishes this series from Taurus’ standard handguns is that each one pays a visit to the “production room” at the company’s Georgia facility, where a team upgrades the guns’ performance and aesthetics. For the 856 Executive Grade revolver, the upgrades to its appearance include a hand-polished satin finish on the stainless steel and a checkered Altamont walnut grip.
The 856 Executive Grade revolver’s performance has been substantially upgraded as well. As a six-shot .38 Special +P revolver with a 3-inch barrel, this gun was designed with everyday carry in mind. To help aid it in this role, each Executive 856’s trigger is hand-tuned to provide a crisper, smoother, more predictable trigger pull. It’s also DAO or double-action-only, as the hammer is spurred to enable a smoother draw. Finally, the Taurus engineers also chamfer each of the 856 Executive Grades revolvers’ chambers to ensure easier reloading.
Each 856 Executive Grade also includes a Pelican Vault hard handgun case that is lock-compatible and ready for air travel.
Previously, the only Taurus 856 revolvers available with 3-inch barrels were in the Defender series, and the most affordable model has an MSRP of about $430. This makes the upgrades given to the 856 Executive Grade revolvers worth about $260, as the new model has an MSRP of $689. It is available now.
How to select the proper ammo for a defensive pocket gun.
Things tend to get a bit spooky when we start talking about tiny carry guns and their performance, but small carry guns are all the rage today. Unlike full-size pistols, micro-compact guns haven’t only had to overcome the ballistic deficiencies of short barrels, but they also had to compensate for poor handling and subpar cartridges for their assigned role.
Carry guns take many shapes and sizes. Here’s a Dan Wesson TCP in .45 ACP and a S&W J-Frame .357 Mag. The 4-inch .45 ACP is hardly a pocket gun, but its learning curve is far shorter and less painful than the 2-inch .357 Mag.
The old days saw guns having to resort to shortcomings to appeal to their buyers. Most were small versions of existing designs, while others were original creations often centered around an established cartridge. The former here usually resulted in funny-looking sawn-off pistols, and the latter in guns questionably suited for their ammunition. At the base of this problem was reliability—something that small guns usually lacked.
The original means to ensure reliable performance was to go simple, such as in the case of the small-frame revolver. For most of the 20th century, the little five-shot was the standard for performance and reliability, most notably the Smith & Wesson J-Frame. This revolver and its variants were the basis of most concealable guns, and the .38 Special and .357 Magnum were the most common cartridges for them.
(Left to right) The .380 ACP 90-grain JHP+P solves most feeding and reliability issues in mini pocket guns. The 158-grain Hardcast .38 SPL +P is a tried-and-true classic that’s quite ideal in a small gun … at the cost of some recoil. The 124-grain 357 Magnum JHP isn’t really fun to fire and doesn’t do enough over the .38 at bad-breath distance to warrant the extra recoil and blast.
It wasn’t until advances in engineering came along, mostly in the form of polymer components, that small semi-autos began to become truly reliable off the shelf. Newer materials also meant lighter weight and lower cost across the board. There was a significant period in the early 2000s where there was great overlap in the use of revolvers and semi-autos for carry. This was the time when new ammunition was coming out that greatly benefited small calibers like .380 ACP, a cartridge that greatly enjoyed its newfound fame.
Bear in mind that the micro semi-auto has been with us as a mainstream product category for only a decade, whereas the modern micro revolver has been around for more than a century. The rush to make sales with these micro semis saw widespread confusion and complaints of poor performance. I remember clearly how many .380s hit the shelves when they first became popular, and I couldn’t understand who would want a S&W Bodyguard over the company’s own 642 in .38 SPL +P.
Right as this new ammunition was hitting the market, companies like Sig Sauer introduced the P238 in .380 ACP (2009) and the P938 in 9x19mm (2011). These were successful designs, and I own two of them. My basic P238 is a workhorse, but the upgraded version struggles with reliability. I don’t carry it; I just keep it for sentimental value as a project gun. I’ve heard a great deal of similar stories with the P238 and P938; some people swear by them, and others swear at them.
I’ve found these mini 1911 types can be extremely picky with ammunition. I carry only Buffalo Bore .380 +P in mine to ensure I get full cycling of the slide. I like the P238, but I realize that there are better options out there, as even I’ve resorted to hand-picking ammo I’ve had the least number of issues with. I firmly believe that your self-defense pistol should be as close to 100 percent reliable as possible, or at least not prone to failure with something as benign as ammo choice.
This is really where the micro pistol world revolves—the balance of ammunition to the size of the gun. Let’s take a look at this in greater detail with the most popular carry calibers…and just what they do in a small gun.
The .357 Magnum
The .357 Mag. is something of a holy grail carry cartridge in a 4-inch revolver. It can do just about anything you want, but the same cartridge in a 2-inch snubby isn’t fun in the slightest, and it doesn’t come close to what a 4-inch gun can do. It’s true, in general, that you’re getting more power and speed out of a 2-inch .357 compared to the other calibers and guns on this list. The old advice of “carry .357s but practice with .38s” is bad advice because there’s a world of hurt between the two cartridges, and I think that it’s best to forgo the full-house .357 in a 2-inch gun.
In all my testing, nothing I can find as a benefit of the full-house .357 outweighs the cons. Most .38 +P ammo is completely sufficient and very powerful itself. I personally carry .38s in my .357; Buffalo Bore 158-grain hardcast .38 +P is plenty in a 13-ounce revolver. This is probably the most deceptive carry caliber out there: People buy it and then realize they’ve been tricked when they fire it for the first time. Ouch!
The .38 Special
Up until 9mm became popular in small guns, the .38 Special was truly America’s carry cartridge. It has a long and storied history and has earned its reputation. For a carry revolver today, this is the best carry cartridge, especially with some of the more powerful +P loads from companies like Buffalo Bore. The old “FBI Load” is still perfect for carry and is ample in power.
This cartridge has never really lost relevance; I carry it regularly, and it’s very convenient and easy to handle. The .38 snub-nose is classic, common and hard to go wrong with, even in inexperienced hands. This is my recommendation due in large part to the ammunition being well-developed and widely available. It’s hard to find a .38 Special load that doesn’t perform as advertised.
The 9x19mm
The problem I have with 9mm is that it’s so common. Many people take it for granted, and they don’t really spend the time looking for ammunition suitable for the low velocities produced by sub-3-inch barrels. I’ve found that it’s easy to get into a 9mm, but it’s also easy to load it with ammo that isn’t really suitable for how small the guns are.
Blurry lines exist all over when it comes to handguns and their features. A P365 could be called a pocket gun; however, it’s closer in size to a G19 with the 12-round grip module installed and a threaded barrel in place of the original. Seeking greater capacity and velocity usually results in a bigger gun, and at that point why not just carry the G19 and get full benefit of 15+1 rounds?
Take the Sig P365 as an example. With a factory-length barrel, it needs ammo designed for speeds at or around 1,000 fps. Put in a longer barrel, like the colorful Faxon with suppressor threads, and you end up picking up an easy 150 fps with most ammo. I find that most 9mm ammo marketed to small guns does well in them but is subpar in larger pistols—and vice versa. A 147-grain JHP+P is largely wasted in a P365 or G43, and also that a 115-grain low-recoil carry round is wasted in a 4- to 5-inch pistol.
The .380 ACP
The .380 ACP bothers me fundamentally. It’s true that this round has done so much for carry guns; the technology used to improve it has widely benefited all handgun ammo and, to a lesser degree subsonic, rifle ammo. What gets me is that it’s almost universally loaded far below where it needs to be pressure wise, and performance lacks as a result.
Modular micro guns, like the P365, display greater utility as opposed to something like the P938, pictured here in orange LOK grips. Guns today can be dressed up in more than just grips, and it’s easy to see how quickly the line between categories can be crossed.
I carry a .380 ACP, but with the most powerful ammo available for it off the shelf. I really believe that the .380 90-grain JHP needs 200 fps over what most are loaded at to ensure reliable function in micro pistols. Virtually all the issues I have in .380 ACP pistols is ammo related, and not design problems in the guns. Like magic, the feeding issues go away when I introduce higher pressure cartridges.
A function of this low-power .380 ammo is that many of the guns chambered for it don’t cycle it well; and this usually boils down to the recoil spring and weight of the slide. When you’re playing with so little mass, the inertia needed to strip a fresh cartridge off the magazine may or may not be there, causing a failure.
It’s no coincidence that, when I load Buffalo Bore .380 +P into a problem pocket gun, it suddenly wakes up and runs like a sewing machine. My recommendation is to get as much horsepower as you can out of the little round. There isn’t much of a difference in recoil moving to a full-power .380, but you’ll absolutely notice the improvement in performance.
Five rounds of .357 Mag. or six of .380 ACP? There are arguments for both. When you get this small, it’s best to start working the advantages each has, not to try to make one into the other.
Silver Bullets
Most people who carry a gun do so not out of mortal dread, but out of a desire for peace of mind. Unfortunately, many first-time gun owners never go to the range and practice, instead buying a few boxes of carry ammo, loading the gun and forgetting about it. A lucky charm, if you will.
If you plan to become proficient with your pocket gun, make sure it’s fed a diet of properly suited ammunition. Today, we’re in new territory in that the .38 SPL is still fine with a soft-cast 158-grain hollow point. It works just as well now as it did 100 years ago…but can you say the same for a brand-new .380 with today’s ammo?
A family of Hornady ammunition in .357 Mag., .38 Special, 9mm and .380 ACP. Hornady was at the forefront of developing what are now mainstays in the micro-carry gun ammunition class.
We’re living in a time where we’re actively learning and making advances, and some of these happen on the fly. There’s no silver bullet—no magic cartridge—that’ll make your pocket gun into a showstopper. Match your gun and ammo and don’t try to push it.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
While not as modular as the AR-15, there are still plenty of Mini-14 accessory options available to trick out your ranch rifle.
Just like with aftermarket stocks, the amount of available Mini-14 accessory options are lacking. This is largely due to the fact that the rifle was only ever made by Ruger, unlike a design like the AR-15 that has been produced by a multitude of manufacturers.
The Mini-14 has struggled in this regard because it is a proprietary system that is not open source in any way. Ruger is the sole producer of the gun. As a result, many of the available Mini-14 accessories exist primarily to address the perceived shortcomings of the guns coming out of the Ruger factory.
Since the introduction of the Ranch Rifle model in 1982, Ruger has integrated scope bases into the receivers of their Mini-14 rifles, designed for use with the company’s proprietary scope rings.
There are several heights available from the factory, but you will want to try to get something that mounts low to the receiver.
The factory Mini-14 stock is set up for iron sights, and as such, it has a relatively low drop. Most shooters struggle to get a good cheek weld without the use of a riser of some kind to put their eye in line with the scope.
A common solution to this is a mil-spec rail adapter, installed in lieu of the special Ruger rings. Again, you will want to be aware of the height of your optic.
Another excellent solution is a scout-style rail that allows for the low mounting of extended eye relief scopes and red dots sights.
Considering that the Mini-14 is not an exceptionally accurate gun compared to many other rifles, a 2-MOA red dot, such as the Aimpoint T2 or an Eotech reflex sight, is just about ideal and allows for a rapid engagement at medium distance.
UltiMAK Mini-14 Scout Mount for '08 and later produced rifles. Photo: UltiMAK.
The UltiMAK Scout Mount (MSRP $142) is one of the original and best options for this task.
This rugged mount is great for holding zero and is made of one solid piece, thus giving it superior resistance to heat buildup and flex.
This is an integrated type of mount and requires more disassembly than usual to install. The mount itself clamps around the barrel and also integrates itself into the gas block.
The benefit of this mount is that it does not interfere with the stock itself, so you will still be able to use most aftermarket stocks of your choice except for a chassis type that completely encapsulates the gun.
GG&G Mini-14 Red Dot Mount, available in both black and stainless. Photo: GG&G.
GG&G makes several optic mounting solutions for the Mini-14 as well.
In addition to a micro red dot mount that interfaces over the receiver in the Ruger ring slots, they also make a side-scope mount that allows for larger objectives to be used. If you are hunting with your Mini-14 and want to mount a thermal optic, this is a great option.
Notably, the red dot mount from GG&G is available with a Burris Fastfire optic already installed, meaning all you have to do is attach it and zero it up.
This is a quick and relatively affordable Mini-14 optic solution with a price of $287.95, but the mount can also be purchased independently for $51.45.
Accu-strut
One of the primary causes of poor accuracy in the Mini-14 stems from the vibration created by its gas system and heat buildup causing barrel flex.
Many old Mini-14 rifles are sometimes embarrassingly inaccurate, producing groups as large as 5 or 6 inches at 100 yards.
Though attempts have been made over the last 50 years to make the rifle shoot better, the most consistent product to accomplish this has been the Accu-strut (MSRP $120).
The Accu-strut LT model, available in both black and stainless. Photo: Accu-strut.
This product interfaces with the barrel and gas system, and while it looks a bit military it is really a dampener that helps to harmonically stabilize the barrel during firing.
Newer Mini-14 rifles are much more accurate than the old ones, but there are still individuals who opt to install the Accu-strut regardless of the rifle’s production year.
The company advertises a 75-percent reduction in group size in older guns, and this has been proven to be true across the board. The Accu-strut is probably the most common and widely known Mini-14 accessory.
Mini-14 Magazines
The Mini-14 uses proprietary magazines that rock in like those of full-size M14/M1A or AK rifles.
Factory magazines are constructed of heavy-gauge steel rather than aluminum and are known for being very durable and reliable.
Another thing they are known for unfortunately is their cost. The average price for a Ruger-made magazine is around $40.
Compare this to the average AR-15 magazine which can be had for as little as $10.
There are indeed companies that make polymer magazines for the Mini-14, though they are not well known for being as reliable as Ruger-brand mags. Polymer magazines from companies like ProMag run about $20 today, with their steel version being closer to $30.
This is still relatively expensive and considering the factory Ruger versions are known to be exceedingly reliable, one has to consider if it wouldn’t be better to just stick with OEM mags.
30- and 20-round polymer Mini-14 magazines from ProMag.
Thermold also makes 30-round polymer Mini-14 magazines that are quite affordable at around $15 each.
Though, first-hand experience has not proven them to be as rugged as one would like.
The main struggle with most polymer magazines is how they interface with the magazine release, which is a paddle type. The exterior geometry of some of these causes binding and makes the magazines difficult to remove.
A very unique Mini-14 accessory is the Accuracy Systems Adjustable Gas Block (MSRP $129).
This item allows for the fine-tuning of the Mini-14 and the fifth-generation model can be used in tandem with other Accuracy Systems products such as the Accu-strut.
This combination of an adjustable gas block with accuracy-enhancing features makes it so that the Mini-14 will be at its best and offer increased reliability with a wider variety of ammunition types.
What’s more, the Accuracy Systems gas block also works with other systems integrated into the gas block such as the UltiMAK scout rail.
This gas block assembly, when combined with a Scout Rail and Accu-strut, makes for the most flexible aftermarket setup of available Mini-14 accessories.
Sig Sauer has just announced the P320-XTEN, a 10mm P320 pistol with an optics-ready slide and 15-round capacity.
The Sig Sauer P320 has been a very popular handgun ever since it was selected as the U.S. Army’s new service pistol in 2017. While Americans have always loved owning their own version of the military’s sidearm, not everyone feels adequately equipped with a 9mm pistol. For those who need their handgun cartridge to provide “performance to the power of 10,” Sig has just announced the 10mm P320-XTEN.
Frankly, the new caliber option is the biggest change between the P320-XTEN and previously existing P320 models. Many other P320s were already offered with optics-ready slides, flat-faced triggers, night sights and other features that are present on the P320-XTEN, but until now they were only available in 9mm with the exception of one .45 ACP model. Built using the new XSERIES 10mm/.45 ACP grip module, the P320-XTEN will likely only be the first 10mm P320 model to be introduced. This one is full-sized with a 5-inch bull barrel and 15-round capacity, but the eventual release of a compact carry model would not be surprising.
Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Commercial Sales at Sig Sauer, said this on the new 10mm P320:
The P320-XTEN is the most powerful P320 SIG has ever built combining the features of our XSERIES models with the punch of the 10mm round. The superiority of this pistol begins with the all new XSERIES grip module, designed specifically for 10mm and 45 AUTO calibers, featuring the XSERIES deep trigger undercut, extended beavertail, and aggressive stippling for a high grip making recoil easier to manage,
The P320-XTEN is optimized for use with the Sig Sauer ROMEO2 red dot sight and each pistol will ship with two 15-round magazines. MSRP is not yet available.
Walther has just announced the Walther Magnum Pistol or WMP, a .22 Magnum optics-ready handgun with a 15-round capacity.
While .22 Magnum isn’t the most popular of calibers, it does enjoy a wide variety of applications. This may be why Walther is marketing the new .22 Magnum WMP as being “ready for adventure,” without being too specific about what that adventure may be. Whether the cartridge interests you for pest control, hunting, plinking or even self-defense, the WMP appears to be a capable and feature-rich pistol to do it with.
The .22 Magnum WMP is a full-size, polymer-framed handgun with a 4.5-inch barrel and a 15-round magazine capacity (10-rounders available for ban states). The pistol also features an optics-ready slide and comes with two adaptor plates. Walther doesn’t specify which optic footprints the adaptors are for, but the product page features a WMP sporting what looks like a Vortex Viper which uses Docter-pattern mounts. For those who prefer to use iron sights, the front post is fiber-optic as well.
The .22 Magnum WMP is also completely ambidextrous, featuring not only a slide release lever on each side but a magazine release as well. Actually, the WMP has four activation points for the mag release, and Walther is calling the system the Quad release mechanism. This means that the pistol not only has a traditional button release on each side, but a classic Walther-style paddle release on both sides too.
A few other features of the WMP worth mentioning are its accessory rail, front slide serrations and trigger safety. Each pistol will include two magazines and the MSRP is $549.
For more on the Walther Magnum Pistol, please visit waltherarms.com.
With the right revolver skills, one can be a formidable adversary even when armed with antiquated technology.
If you’re to believe the local gun shop expert, revolvers are 19th century technology and utterly useless for anything other than making noise. When you run into someone who says this, what you do is simple: ignore him. (If he also says “IPSC will get you killed,” move to the other side of the gun shop. Staying too close to such a concentration of mall ninja-ism can be dangerous to your brain cells.)
Yes, double-action revolvers are old, but as I’ve pointed out before, the gladius used by the Roman legions is also old. If you meet someone who knows how to use it, he’ll be a dangerous adversary—even with “obsolete” technology. Skill is what matters.
So, how do you improve your DA revolver skills?
Get Good Grips
First, get the right grips. The customary, classic and good-looking ones are almost always not suited to good shooting. The classic “cokes” on a high-gloss blued S&W .44 Magnum are a beauty to look at, but they’re generally a misery to shoot.
Yes, it’s classic, looks good and sometimes feels good. But it’s a miserable grip to try and shoot well, especially if you’re using magnum ammo. Get better grips.
A few good choices are the Miculek grip, Pachmayrs and VZ Grips. I used a set of Miculek smooth wood grips on my .45 ACP revolvers when I competed in IPSC. They were just what I needed to bring me home each time, with a pair of Team Gold medals to show for the trips. You can order yours checkered, but the smooth lets your hand slide on the grip to get properly located on the draw, and they’re shaped to stay in your grip when you shoot.
Here, personal preference rules. The Pachmayrs are made of rubber and that softens the recoil. They have a variety of styles to choose from. When I’m shooting pin loads or magnum ammo, I change to the Pachs, because, well, recoil hurts.
For compact carry, especially EDC concealed carry, a set of VZ Grips (they make an almost overwhelming set of choices) are just the thing—especially if you’re using a snubbie for backup or deep concealment, a VZ boot grip is just the ticket. And if you’re in a hot climate, the VZ grips are made of nearly indestructible materials.
Get the grip that fits you and lets you shoot comfortably. That varies depending on your hand size, the size of the revolver and how much power you’re dispensing. There’s no such thing as “one size fits all.”
Get a Good Grip
Second, grip it right. Take your unloaded revolver and wrap your shooting hand on it in a firing grip. Look at the web of your hand. Where is it compared to the top of the backstrap of the frame? If there’s any space between your hand and the top corner, you’re doing it wrong. Get your hand up as high as you can and still reach the trigger.
Now, if you have small hands, this might limit which revolvers you can use—but you don’t gain anything by keeping your hand down on the frame. In fact, you make recoil worse, as you give the revolver better leverage to create muzzle rise. I grip a revolver so high that some of them have the hammer touching the web of my hand as it comes back in the DA cycle.
The wrong advice is to grip lower to get your trigger finger in line with the trigger. Supposedly, pressing the trigger from an angle is bad. I haven’t seen it being bad while winning piles of loot and two Gold medals. Grip high and stay away from the guy I started this article describing.
Get your hand up as high onto the frame as you can. The higher the better, until the hammer doesn’t have enough room to pivot.
Utilize The Clicks
When it comes to dry-firing, pistols get one click. On pistols, one striker falls and then you have to hand-cycle the slide to do it again. Despite the Foley artist (the guy who does sound effects) in movies making a pistol click repeatedly, we all know they don’t. Well, with rare exceptions, anyway. Revolvers? You can click all you want. My boss at The Gun Room, Mike Karbon, spent the slow times at the shop dry-firing his Colt Python. Click, click, click went the wheelgun…
He did this to the point that it became background noise…something we didn’t notice unless it stopped. He even broke the firing pin on one—which was unheard of—and happened so rarely that no one we called had a spare. “Those things don’t break” was the response from one pistolsmith.
You’re highly unlikely to break your firing pin either (rimfires excepted, don’t dry-fire those). You’ll get a whole lot better in the practice, and you’ll be burnishing the parts against each other that’ll slick up the action even before you pay someone to do more to it.
Learn On The Cheap
Speaking of rimfires, that’s fourth on our list. Yes, all ammo is pricey these days, but rimfire is still less expensive than centerfire. Even reloaded centerfire. So, get a rimfire, and use that as a sub-caliber trainer at the range. Yes, yes, yes, that can cost. When Jerry Miculek suggested this to me, I went out and invested in an S&W M-617 (a big help it was, too).
If you want to get really good with the M-19 (above), then you’d be wise to invest in the M-617 (below). Shooting a metric carload of .22 LR will really improve your revolver skills and is cheaper in the long run than buying .38 or .357 ammo.
Yes, the MSRP on that one is just over $800. OK, let’s say that .22 LR ammo costs you $140 per thousand rounds. (With ammo prices right now, these will vary, but the relative costs won’t much.) If we only compare it to the .38 Special, currently running $650 per thousand, we can see what’s up. Bigger bores will cost even more. The cost of a .38 Special means a difference of $510 per thousand rounds fired compared to a .22 LR. As a result, you start getting your investment back after 1,500 rounds.
Yes, reloading would make the .38 less expensive, but you’re trading cash for time at that point. As prices come down, the difference shrinks, but even at the old prices, you’d get your M-617 cost back in 2,500 rounds.
So, 1,500 rounds to get your investment back. The gain after that means a lot of double-action practice at the range, at speed or for accuracy, resulting in you becoming a much better shooter.
Reload For Your Revolver
It isn’t just that loading your own ammo is less expensive than buying factory ammo (provided you stocked up on components, so you can laugh your way through ammo panics.) You can also tune your ammo to your gun and to your practice or match needs. If you need power, you can have it. If you need mild recoil, that’s simply a matter of correct loading data.
And you save money either way.
I did a quick search for components recently, and while some can be tough to find, for a .38 Special, I found powder, primers and bullets that would let me load factory-equivalent ammo for about $150 per thousand. (Hint: Buy in bulk…5,000 primers, 8-pound kegs of powder, bullets in multiple-thousand shipments.) A good press will let you load 400 to 500 rounds an hour.
These .44 Remington Magnums are loaded with Barnes XPB lead-free hollow-points, and the crimp is set perfectly.
At the cost savings over factory (about $500 per thousand), you’ll get your reloading press investment back in a couple of thousand rounds. I know…this and the rimfire represent an investment. But if you want to get good, you aren’t going to do it with just positive thinking.
Other Considerations
There are other things you can do, and while they do make a difference, they don’t give you the immediate return on investment that the previous tips do. Save them for later.
You can have a pistolsmith slick up your revolver—and in due time you should. But that comes after the dry-fire practice and the range trips with the rimfire. A slicked-up action improves your shooting, but only by a small amount. If you’re 2 percentage points behind the match winner, and you’re using a box-stock action, getting yours slicked up will make the difference. If you’re still working your way out of “C” class, a slicked-up action won’t make enough of a difference to get you up into “B” class.
And porting? I love the guys at Mag-na-port, but like a slicked-up action, it won’t make a difference until you’re near the top or shooting magnum loads. In some instances, it’s essential. I’m not going to shoot pins with a revolver that hasn’t been Mag-na-ported…no way. But, in my case, I’m looking to win, and I’ll have to elbow some pretty enthusiastic shooters out of the way if I’m to do so. And they’ll have all gotten the advantages they could with practice and gear as well.
I’ve made a comparison with auto racing before: You can argue all you want about what tires are best for making the turns at 220 mph, but if your skill level isn’t at the point where any tire at all will keep you off the corner wall at 110 mph, then you need to be looking someplace other than tires for improvements.
The author’s S&W 625, a prize gun and a prized gun.
Put It All Together
So, get grips that fit and are comfortable. Learn to grip it right. Dry-fire your revolver until you can work it fast, and keep the sights buried in the center of the “A” zone or locked onto the “X” ring. Go to the range with your rimfire and validate those revolver skills in live-fire; then, beat the falling plate rack with your reloads.
Once you do that for a number of practice sessions and have started to throw your weight around in matches at the gun club, then think about having your wheelgun slicked up and ported. (If the match rules allow porting, of course.)
Skills are what win matches and fights, not just equipment—however good. Only when two competitors are evenly matched does equipment begin to enter into it. Build your revolver skills and then when you upgrade your equipment, you’ll turbocharge those skills. Technology from any century is still relevant, but only if you have the skills to use it.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the August 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
It’s important to train practical precision in field conditions, something that you can’t get while benchrest shooting at the range.
There’s a movement afoot in the precision rifle world—a return to “the fighting rifleman,” for lack of a better term. The feeling around the water cooler is we’ve taken a turn away from the practical and more toward the engineering side. If this sounds familiar, it should; it’s called “benchrest shooting.”
When I arrived at Rifles Only in South Texas in 2002, it was the top spot for precision rifle training and competition. The focus mimicked the military in many ways and promoted finding your targets, determining the range and then engaging that target with a limited number of shots. Jacob Bynum, considered prone the rare shot, so the idea was to train people to adapt to the situation; the term alternate positions was born.
Rifles Only were full-time training military units during the high points of war years; from 2003 to 2011, I was three weeks on and one week off the entire time. Running and gunning was a way of life. We used what we learned from those classes to design stages for competitions, such as my Sniper’s Hide Cup and, back then, The Shooter’s Brawl. As tactical rifle competition got more popular, the needs changed. Now, we need to test a shooter’s skill but, at the same time, accommodate more shooters into the mix. That meant watering down the stages.
The flat bottom and weight system help balance the Accuracy International AT-X on the sandbag.
Since those early days, we’ve seen the growth of Series and Leagues. They’re very popular and have taken the idea from four or five matches a year—to over 50. Just about every weekend there’s an event somewhere in the country. That’s a great thing; competition is the cheapest form of organized training anyone can participate in.
With popularity, however, comes more watering down of the stages, to the point where competitors no longer “run and gun,” but instead take three steps to a prop and lay a rifle down on a sandbag, which we describe as barricade benchrest, using 20-plus-pound 6mm rifles that use extremely light triggers and flat-bottom stocks.
They’re incredibly accurate, and shooting this method can be a ton of fun for many people. But the goal of these setups is to remove as much of the shooter from the equation as possible.
Weight equals stability, and stability is accuracy. Balancing these truths isn’t always as easy as it sounds. So, instead, we get rifles designed to balance on the bags without influence.
Before someone goes, here it is: Please don’t get me wrong, the innovations around the current level of competition have done a ton of good for the sport. The bag’s design, new tripods, mounting options and accessories are all positives. My question is one of balance. How do we balance the practical with the engineering side of things?
Rifle training should have an element of practical precision to it.
Shifting Tides
Well, that’s happening; there’s a growing movement to return to field-style events. We recognize the community is asking for more, so a core group of new competitors is engaging with whom they consider the old guard. They want to return to the roots: a practical application tied to the competitive nature of man.
I like to keep things simple: Find it, range it, engage it, WTF, wind, target, fundamentals. Stuff like this is easy to remember.
Match booklets identify the ranges; the targets are marked and painted, and—usually—the competition has mapped out their path before even seeing the stage. We removed target detection to move the shooters through the stages more efficiently.
The author shooting an Accuracy International ASR Rifle at Gunsite in 2021.
Today, if you ask me, they’re studying for a specific test rather than the situation. If you change any one question on the test, you’re met with protests. The return to practical has to include a return to the essential elements of our shooting life: hunting.
With this return to the fighting riflemen, Hunter Series are cropping up, limiting the events to hunting-style rifles with reduced weights. Being able to find the targets is pretty crucial in a hunting type of situation. Then, you have to build that position based on the terrain. This is where the adaption elements of competition work to your advantage. Even the experimentation with bag fills helped in this context; rather than carry a 6-pound Game Changer bag, you can use the Go Lite fill and reduce the weight by a significant amount. The sheep guys will carry it.
Where Does It All Land?
We recognize two things can exist simultaneously: series style of events and field events. Nobody is suggesting we change entirely every aspect of the current styles. Many want a balance of the two, a combination of skills to be tested.
You can see the sniper rifle version of the Accuracy International AT-X (left) versus the competition model. The center of gravity is much lower in the new sniper rifle model.
An example of this is Accuracy International rifles. Despite being known for their sniper rifles, used by more than 160 countries, they started a competition team. Those team members used the existing barreled action to design a rifle better suited to the tools employed today by a novel means.
They lowered the rifle’s center of gravity in the stock by close to a ½-inch over a typical competition rifle. It can still take advantage of all the weight systems used and accessories we see today, but in a 12-pound base system. They created a balance between the military world and competition.
Balance Is The Key To All
The mindset moving forward? I see the 3-Gun style of AR competition as the Assaulter in the military. To me, the precision rifle should mimic my sniper experience in the Marines—methodical and deliberate … all those words we recognize around the skillset.
It’s a journey, not a road trip.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
FN America has just updated the company’s line of designated marksmen AR-15s with the release of the FN 15 DMR3.
FN began producing M16s for the U.S. military in the late 1980s, and since then, has grown to be one of the world’s largest producers of AR-style firearms. In 2014 the company launched the FN 15 series, their first commercially available AR-15s for the civilian market, and FN has continued to innovate on the platform ever since. Besides military-style M16 and M4 clones, the FN 15 series now includes more modern, tactical variants like the TAC, SRP and DMR lines. The DMR series was in its second generation until now, as FN America has just released the third-generation model with the FN 15 DMR3.
Most of the new features of the FN 15 DMR3 were selected to help improve accuracy and reduce felt recoil, starting with the barrel and gas system. The 1/8 twist 18-inch barrel is cold hammer-forged, chrome-lined and sports a hybrid profile that provides an ideal balance between accuracy and weight. It’s made from FN’s famous “machine gun barrel steel,” and thanks to the railed handguard, is free-floated as well.
The gun uses a rifle-length gas system, and each will ship with a SureFire ProComp muzzle brake. Combined, all these features should help to dramatically reduce recoil impact and enable faster follow-up shots. The Geissele two-stage precision G2S trigger installed in each FN 15 DMR3 should help facilitate better accuracy as well.
Other features of the FN 15 DMR3 include an FN-made pistol grip and 6-position carbine stock, a Radian Raptor-LT ambidextrous charging handle and a Radian Talon ambidextrous safety selector. It will be available in three different finish color options and each rifle will ship with one 30-round magazine. MSRP is not yet available.
A great option for beefing-up your mil-spec AR bolt.
Ever notice that the AR-15 bolt has a great big, honking hole drilled right through it? And that hole has sharp edges that have to be carefully de-angled or it’s not fun to work with? If that edge gets nicked, the bolt will die and soon. Why do we use it? Because the government cast that design in stone back in 1968. If you stick with mil-spec, you stick with the bolt. But, should you?
HM Defense bolt (center) versus mil-spec (right).
How about we improve that? HM Defense did just that. They took the simple measure of not drilling the hole all the way through. I know, simple, right?
The HM Bolt simply has a blind hole for the cam pin. This does, of necessity, require a new cam pin—one short enough not to stop short in the hole—but that’s easy. How does this make a bolt stronger, and why do we care?
Simple: By drilling the bolt body through, the bolt makers (who have no other choice) drastically weaken the bolt body. With most of it gone, there are only two thin webs to support the gas rings, firing pin guidance and hold the bolt together. I’ve seen bolts cracked and broken at the cam pin hole. It isn’t a subnuclear detonation, but it does stop the rifle from working.
A mil-spec AR-15 bolt broken at the cam pin hole.
By stopping short of going through, HM Defense gives the thin side walls support from the far side of the bolt. Even if the stresses try to crack the bolt at the thin webs, the webs are supported by the far side being solid.
Also, regular bolts have to have the cam pin hole edges staked on the far side or else they could be assembled backward. I saw it—once—and the stream of invectives from the owner (he had fired the one shot he’d get on the rifle stage of a 3-gun match) was impressive.
The bolts are made to be a drop-in fit or replacement to all mil-spec bolt/carrier setups and given the proper heat treatment, testing and finish to provide lots of use. Each one comes with an appropriately shortened cam pin, so you won’t have to try and grind one down on your bench grinder to make it fit.
Does this matter? Sure. We all try to make our equipment as durable and reliable as we can. We test things, we check regularly and some worry (more than others) over what might go wrong.
Anything we can do to reduce the number of things we have to worry about is a good thing.
Plus, the price of the HM Bolt is right in line with regular AR-15 bolts (MSRP is $175). Yes, parts are hard to come by right now, but when they get a bit easier, you might want to upgrade the parts list on your next build.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2021 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Sig Sauer has just expanded the CROSS series with the CROSS-PRS, a new bolt-action rifle with match-grade features purpose-built for precision and long-range shooting.
Sig Sauer introduced the original CROSS rifle in 2019, and it was the company’s first foray into bolt-action rifles since the 1990s. It was marketed as a precision hunting rifle, and it was certainly capable of extreme accuracy in all three available calibers, but Sig felt that the design could be accurized even further. Enter the new Sig Sauer CROSS-PRS, a rifle that Sig claims to have match-grade features that make it ideal for the competitive precision long-range shooting world.
The most substantial change implemented into the CROSS-PRS design is the new barrel. While the original CROSS was available with either a 16- or 18-inch barrel, the CROSS-PRS sports a 24-inch, stainless heavy-contour 5R barrel. The barrel is now free-floated as well along with the M-LOK handguard, something that was only true of the handguard on standard CROSS models. Combined with the included match-grade, adjustable 2-stage trigger and bipod-ready Arca rail, the CROSS-PRS should be an extremely capable performer at longer ranges. The overall weight and balance of the gun has been tuned as well.
Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Commercial Sales at Sig Sauer, said this about the new rifle:
The CROSS-PRS is purpose built and feature rich. The heavy structured steel design delivers weight evenly for a balanced feel while reducing recoil to get you back on target faster. Combined with the extreme accuracy of the heavy contour 5R rifled barrel, and folding adjustable steel stock for easy movement, the CROSS-PRS delivers an extremely capable long-range shooting experience that scores big on the range, right out of the box.
The CROSS-PRS will be available in 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Winchester, and both models will ship with two 10-round polymer AICS-style magazines. MSRP is $2,499.99 and it’s shipping to retailers now.
For more information on the Sig Sauer Cross Rifle, please visit www.sigsauer.com.
Looking to maximize your Mini-14? Check out these top 5 Mini-14 stock options ranging from folders to sporters.
The Ruger Mini-14 rifle has unfortunately struggled to maintain an aftermarket following. Unlike the AR-15 with its nearly infinite accessory options, there isn’t as much that can be done to alter the Mini-14. An exception here is the stock, an easily installed component that can be swapped during normal field disassembly. While there are not too many out there, there certainly are some notable examples. Chief among these are versions that have the ability to fold. There are of course modern versions of this, but the most desirable is arguably the most classic. The first one we’re going to look at jumps right off your color TV, out of the back of a curiously painted van.
Top Mini-14 Stock Options:
Samson A-TM Folding Stock Probably the most famous Mini-14 out there was used on the A-Team TV show. Along with the 1911, the folding stock Mini-14, though fully automatic on the show, was the signature weapon of the A-Team’s leader, Hannibal Smith. Although the one on the show was technically the police AC-556 that came with a folding stock from the factory, you won’t be able to get any closer to an original than this. In fact, the Samson stock is made on much of the same tooling as the original was, and it is available in the same color layout from the TV show.
Despite being a pop culture icon, this stock is actually very functional and makes for an extremely compact overall size. It can be stored easily and deploys quickly while still being very solid in terms of lockup. Of note, the butt plate also folds, making the pistol grip area at the rear of the stock the widest point of the gun. Although we tried, you simply can’t talk about this stock without pitying the fool who doesn’t have one on his Mini-14. MSRP: $299.99(Stainless), $324.99 (Black) // samson-mfg.com.
Hogue Mini-14 Sporter Stock If you find yourself dissatisfied with the factory synthetic stock, or just don’t want to tear up your wood version, Hogue offers a very affordable replacement stock with a soft OverMolded rubber finish. If you find yourself in a wet or hot climate where your hands become slippery with muck or sweat, the stock will help alleviate that slick feeling and allow for a firm grip. Currently, this model is available in black and green. It is a drop-in fit and requires no permanent alteration to the rifle. Luckily, it also has a very affordable street price. MSRP: $89.95 // hogueinc.com.
ProMag Archangel Sparta Stock One of the many reasons why the Mini-14 has been overlooked as a tactical rifle is because it doesn’t look the part. Some people very much prefer the clean, almost benign appearance of a stock Mini-14 while still recognizing that it is a very capable semi-auto. Because of the rifle’s classic aesthetics, there have not been many attempts to force it into the territory of the AR-15; the Mini-14 looks quite out of place covered in rails and flashlights.
That said, ProMag has a relatively unique stock system that integrates a Picatinny top rail for optics as well as an adjustable stock for both comb height and length of pull. For the purist, this is certainly a bit much, and some may argue that it would be easier to simply just get an AR-15 rather than try to turn your Mini-14 into one. Regardless, the execution here is very good and it certainly does provide the features of a tactical rifle. All the parts on it are proprietary, however, so you will not be able to install common AR furniture or grips on it. MSRP: $219.99 // promagindustries.com.
Boyd’s Laminate Stocks If you find yourself in the market for something that enhances the look and feel of your Mini-14, you should probably consider the laminate stock options from Boyd’s. Boyd’s has made a name for itself in the industry as a leader in aftermarket stocks. Indeed, they make just about anything you may need, with further options to customize it at the factory. Boyd’s makes not just stocks for new guns, but also replacement stocks for vintage classics like the Mini-14’s ancestor the M1 Garand.
The Mini-14 stocks offered by Boyd’s are available in an incredible number of colors and styles, both traditional and modern. You have a choice between thumbhole, varmint and factory-profile options. The company offers eight styles for the Mini-14, which is the largest amount of options you will find from any single company for this gun. Many of the stocks offered by Boyd’s will require minor fitting, which is something to be aware of when you buy. Prices vary on these stocks, as they are customizable by the purchaser, and one will have to decide what options and colors they want when ordering. MSRP: Varies // boydsgunstocks.com.
ATI Strikeforce The ATI Strikeforce stock packs in quite a number of features for its relatively low price. The stock is not only able to fold to the side, but can also telescope to adjust length of pull. It is capable of firing with the stock folded as well. Unlike the ProMag stock, the ATI does not offer a complete rail over the top of the receiver. Instead, it relies on the normal optic mounting system that comes standard on the Mini-14. You can add a Picatinny base, or simply use Ruger rings. If tactical features are your goal, this certainly fits the bill without breaking the bank. The stock’s folding capability takes advantage of the Mini-14’s short overall length while still being less than half the price of the Samson model, making it something worth considering for budget-conscious shooters. MSRP: $129.99 // atioutdoors.com.
Stock Up!
Unfortunately, there never has been an abundance of available aftermarket options for the Mini-14. In fact, stocks comprise about one-third of the total Mini-14 accessory options on the market. The limited number of options may be a turn-off to some shooters, but if you are just looking to replace a damaged stock, all of the listed options would be suitable, with the Hogue and Boyd’s models being the closest in appearance to a factory original.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
