From all across the web, we’ve searched high and low for some of the best deals we can find! From tactical gear to firearms, from ammo to footwear, we’ve dug down deep to deliver some delicious discounts!
Take a scroll and see the best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Gun Deals!
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Welcome to CANCON A Fully Suppressed RECOIL Range Day!
Save the date and make your plans to come down on Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 11-13 to the 17 South Rod and Gun Club in Savannah, Georgia.
Hundreds of the newest and best suppressors, firearms, and optics will be on the firing line for you to get hands-on trigger time.
All ammo will be provided, just bring your trigger finger!
Veterans get in FREE Friday, so come spend your Veterans Day weekend with us at CANCON!
SATURDAY NIGHT VIPs will have the opportunity to shoot suppressed with night vision goggles, clip-on night vision optics, IR lasers, tracers, and more.
CANCON will even have activities for kids, making this a completely family-friendly event.
Expect to see hundreds of firearms and suppressors, every one of them available to shoot. Donโt forget your eyes and ears for safety!
Not every day you get to shoot cool stuff like this!
Great food will be available on-site for when you need to recharge between shooting bays.
More information and ticket pre-sales coming soon!
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Designed Machined and assembled in Leupold Optic’s Oregon factory, the Mark 5HD scope keeps the company roots firmly planted in its home.
Crafted to redefine accuracy, precision, and optical performance for long-range shooters, Leupoldโs award-winning Mark 5HD is a testament to domestic manufacturing. Itโs proudly designed, machined, and assembled in the companyโs Beaverton, Oregon factory, where Leupold employs over 650 hardworking Americans.
In designing the Mark 5HD line, Leupoldโs product specialists asked elite shooters what they needed to put accurate fire downrange faster, and used that input to design a riflescope that provides all the tools necessary โ in both quality and features โ without the unnecessary extras that add weight and cost for consumers. Combining relentless optical performance, rugged reliability, and user-friendly features in a package that could only be produced by leveraging the 70-plus years of optics manufacturing Leupold possesses, the Mark 5HD has wowed end-users throughout the industry.
Be sure to enter our American Made giveaway, with great gear from great American companies. Click the tab at the bottom right of page to enter.
Pick up a Mark 5HD and youโll feel the difference; itโs up to 20 ounces lighter than other scopes in its class. Get behind one and youโll see the difference, from its superior edge-to-edge clarity to its extreme low-light performance. With three revolutions of elevation adjustment, the Mark 5HD was built to max out the performance of the latest long-range rifles and ammo.
The heart of the Mark 5HD is in its ZeroLock adjustments, which provide precise, repeatable tracking with a dead-on return to zero. The M5C3 elevation dial delivers over 30-mils of adjustment in three turns. Visual and tactile revolution indicators are in place to ensure you donโt get lost in the travel, and the auto-lock at zero eliminates the risk of accidentally moving the dial. The windage adjustment is capped and the zero indicator mark has been relocated on the riflescopeโs main tube so you can see it without moving your head off the stock of the rifle.
In short, itโs the most dominant long-range, precision riflescope on the market. Best yet, itโs backed by Leupoldโs legendary lifetime guarantee, which guarantees performance where other companies warranty failure.
For more information on Leupold Optics, please visit leupold.com.
Top-tier, battle-proven products, Radian Weapons turns out rifles and accessories in which you can trust your life.
At Radian Weapons, we think American gun companies should make or source their parts from right here in the USA. Thatโs why 100-percent of the firearms products we sell are manufactured in America, by Americans.
We machine the majority of our rifle and accessory components in Redmond, Oregon, using state of the art CNC equipment. At Radian, weโve prioritized vertical integration of our manufacturing processes over product development to ensure that whenever we deliver goods to the consumer, itโs of the highest quality and reliability standards.
Be sure to enter our American Made giveaway, with great gear from great American companies. Click the tab at the bottom right of page to enter.
The temptation in most industries is to rush new products to market. At Radian, we actively choose not to release โme tooโ products or rely on sourcing major components for new products from third party vendors. This helps protect our brand integrity, and hopefully gives consumers peace of mind when they purchase Radian products.
Our flagship products are the Model 1 rifle and related receiver sets, Talon ambidextrous safeties, and Raptor charging handles. Featured here:
MODEL 1 โ 17.5-INCH 223 WYLDE
Clandestine Desert™ Cerakote Finish (Cerakoted by our finishing business, High Desert Coatingsโwww.highdesertcoatings.com)
RAPTOR CHARGING HANDLE FOR A15/M4
The original all-billet design with Cerakoted FDE handles.
TALON 45/90 AMBIDEXTROUS SAFETY
The screwless safety design ensures your levers wonโt come loose and gives you two throw degree options to choose from. Finished with FDE Cerakote.
Buy with confidence, as all Radian products are backed with a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects.
For more information on Radian Weapons, please visit radianweapons.com.
Best known for body armor, Blue Force Gear also offers the everyday carry essential Micro Trauma Kit.
The Micro Trauma Kit NOW!, or Micro TKN, is our smallest version of the Trauma Kit NOW! yet. It was designed to hold essential lifesaving gear with minimal size in mind. The Micro TKNTM is designed to be worn horizontally with minimal bulkโperfect for everyday carry, for law enforcement professionals, prepared citizens, or in low-profile mission sets. The inner carrier can be deployed with one hand or one finger from either the left or right side by pulling the BLIP featured pull tabs. The Micro TKN consists of two main components โ the outer MOLLE or Belt mounted pouch utilizing the Ten-Speedยฎ technology, and a removable insert that keeps medical supplies organized.
Be sure to enter our American Made giveaway, with great gear from great American companies. Click the tab at the bottom right of page to enter.
Supplies
Hemostatic dressing for wound packing/clotting (1 included)
4โ Emergency Trauma Dressing (1 included)
9โ Medical Grade Easy Tape (6 included)
Tourni-Kwik Compression Tourniquet (1 included)
Heavy Duty Medical Gloves (1 pair of Large sized gloves)
For more information on Blue Force Gear, please visit blueforcegear.com.
Unrelenting in design and execution, the new Berger Bullets Long Range Hybrid Target bullets are engineered for hair-splitting accuracy.
Bergerโs new Long Range Hybrid Target bullets™ (LRHT) are 100% Made in the USA and feature a high Ballistic Coefficient (BC), jump-tolerant ogive profile that is Doppler verified with less than 1-percent BC variation.
Long-range target shooters and extreme accuracy enthusiasts endlessly seek a competitive advantage, using sophisticated ballistic solvers, custom drag models, complex optics, and twist-rate calculators, among others. All of these tools are rendered meaningless if the projectile exiting their favorite target, hunting, or Mil/LE tactical rifle is inconsistent and unpredictable. Using advanced proprietary manufacturing processes, Bergerโs innovative Meplat Reduction Technology™ (MRT) applies controlled pressure along the nose of each LRHT bullet, producing a homogeneous and repeatable profile for the industryโs most consistent BCs. While a high BC is desirable, shot-to-shot BC consistency is most critical when engaging targets at 1,000 yards and beyond. When you absolutely need to maximize hit probability, never settle for a bullet other than Berger.
Be sure to enter our American Made giveaway, with great gear from great American companies. Click the tab at the bottom right of page to enter.
The story behind the construction of Berger Bullets is simple. We start with virgin copper and lead wire products with the tightest specifications. Then, we manufacture our own signature J4 Berger bullet jackets to unmatched tolerances of less than 0.0003 inches of total indicated runout. What does this mean? A better bullet begins with a concentric jacket! Lastly, we merge the materials into finished projectiles โ all within the confines of our Mesa, Arizona manufacturing facility.
Berger Bullets are highly sought after by the leading shooters in the worldโs most demanding competitive shooting disciplines, such as PRS, F-Class, Fullbore, long range, and ELR to name a few. New Long Range Hybrid Target bullets are available in .22 caliber, 6mm, 6.5mm, 7mm, and .30 caliber offerings.
New for NRA Show is our line of LRHT Ammunition offerings in 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 300 Norma Magnum.
For more information on Berger Bullets, please visit bergerbullets.com.
Improving the safety, performance and comfort of soldiers and safety professionals, Oakley Standard Issue has become a trusted first line of defense.
For over 20 years, Oakley Standard Issue has manufactured all ballistic products at their factory in Foothill Ranch, California. Products are designed, materials are sourced, and products are tested right here in America.
The Oakley SI Ballistic M Frame Alpha is our latest flagship product. Alpha is an eco-system; the product contains a frame, goggle, and helo-gasket with a lens interchangeable between all three. No matter the mission, the user can configure the product to his or her needs. Range work, close quarters battle, mobility, and even freefall are many of the environments applicable. Oakley Prizm Technology within the lens brings high contrast and definition. Specifically, Prizm Shooting was developed with the Army Marksmanship Unit and gives greater clarity to targets in different light conditions.
Designed with extensive input from our military and first responder community, Alpha is now authorized for wear on the Special Operations Eyewear Program (SOEP). SOEP, regarded as the highest standard for protective eyewear, certifies that all components are made in the USA and offer the highest level of protection. Available in multiple lens and frame color configurations.
Oakley Standard Issue was formally established in 2000. Committed to serving our military and first responders, Oakley SI offers exclusive pricing for products for active-duty military, government, first responders, and veterans.
A passionate gun parts and accessories company, Overwatch Precision has the kit to make you pistol run like a top.
The OP TAC Trigger System is a patent-pending seven-piece upgrade for your Smith & Wesson MP 2.0 that reduces total travel and pre-travel by 50 percent. Engineered by us from the ground up, this kit provides the unmatched performance you have come to expect from all OP products.
Through state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, our trigger bar is held to industry-leading tolerances using a progressive die manufacturing process, a metal forming technique used in aerospace manufacturing that guarantees the most consistent performance and highest quality parts. This process, coupled with a space-age NP3 coating, provides the end user with the highest quality trigger bar ever offered.
TAC Trigger
Our proven TAC trigger is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, with features immediately identifiable as Overwatch Precisionโs intellectual property. The overall design has been the go-to for Glock pistols since we released it in 2016, and its overall shape and function have been refined to excel in this new platform. With pre-travel reduction and a flat face, this self-correcting contact point aids in a linear rearward pull and increases accuracy. The indexing lip helps the shooter consistently place their finger on the trigger in the exact same spot every time, helping muscle memory and overall consistency.
The Sear
At the heart of this system is our NP3 coated sear. With a proprietary sear angle and large radius, this sear allows for a light and consistent break that can be tuned to the shooterโs preference with the two trigger return springs provided.
The Plunger
This product has a proprietary radius that replaces the OEM chamfer and creates a measurable โhumpโ in the trigger pull. This Swiss CNCโd part, coupled with NP3, creates a smooth pull to the wall. The plunger spring provides constancy and safe operation of this part, as intended by S&W.
The Trigger Springs
We offer two different trigger return springs with this kit. Standing by our ethos of serious-use defensive weapon components, we include a 4.5-pound return spring for duty or carry use for a dependable, predictable break. With the growth of USPSA popularity and participation in and amongst firearm enthusiasts, we also offer a 3.2-pound spring. Please note, this spring is not suitable for carry.
North Carolina based G-Code produces solutions for ever gun and tactical carry situation under the sun.
At G-Code, we donโt have a flagship product; what we have is a flagship philosophy and an unyielding commitment to excellence in everything we do. We donโt see ourselves as a company of products โ weโre far more than that. G-Code is a solutions company.
Our purpose has always been to solve problems for our customers. We do this with design and innovation, and although our efforts manifest in products, we never sit back and feel like โwe have arrived.โ
Be sure to enter our American Made giveaway, with great gear from great American companies. Click the tab at the bottom right of page to enter.
Likewise, execution in our workmanship is paramount in its importance to us and to our customers. Our fit, finish, and function must always be unquestionably second to none.
To this end, G-Code products have always been, and will always be, 100-percent American made using only U.S.-sourced raw materials and components. At G-Code, we count it our privilege to provide tactical carry solutions to the men and women who serve in our military, law enforcement, and the civilian concealed carry communities.
This is why when you buy G-Code, you buy American, you buy quality โฆ because we simply will not sell anything else!
The bipod has long been a tool used by shooters to obtain a more steady firing position in the field or on the range. However, in its many years of use, the fundamental design and function of a lot of traditional “stiff” bipods have not changed all that much.
Swagger Bipods, a Nebraska-based manufacturer, has developed a couple of bipods that offer the shooter a ton of flexibility and functionality, all while remaining incredibly lightweight. Using what the company calls Crazy Legs Technology, these bipods afford the shooter a wide array of shooting positions. The flexible, hyper-extending Crazy Legs are shock-corded and are easily adjustable with a simple twist motion.
Gun Digest Editor in Chief Eric Conn had the opportunity to experiment with a Swagger bipod this winter while sighting in for an upcoming predator hunt and came away very impressed with the bipod’s flexibility and ease of use.
For more information on these great shooting aids, check out the video above, or visit the Swagger Bipods website.
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.
Vortexโs Viper Enclosed Micro shotgun optic is now available with a green dot reticle for those who prefer it to red. The red-dot model was released last year, and many hunters have already found it to be a useful companion in the field. The most important feature of the Viper is still here, namely, its ability to be easily direct-mounted to tons of common drilled and tapped shotgun receivers. Its enclosed design will keep it protected from the elements in the field, too. Like the red dot version, the new green dot is available either with a 3-MOA reticle or as the multi-reticle version that allows for seven different combinations of a 3-MOA dot, a 32-MOA circle and a 65-MOA circle. MSRP: 3-MOA Green Dot, $430 // Multi-Reticle Green, $500
Upland and turkey hunters have reason to celebrate, as Banish has just announced 20-gauge and .410 shotgun suppressors. Previously only available in 12-gauge, the innovative shotgun cans are now optimized for a much wider variety of game, and Banish says both are compatible with a wide range of loads. Namely, #8 shot up through #2, BB, BBB, 00 Buck and slugs. Made from titanium to keep their weight at a minimum, both the Banish 20 and Banish 410 feature the same unique profile as the 12-gauge version, so they wonโt interfere with your sight picture. Both have interchangeable chokes and adaptive mounts as well. Time to kiss your old-school hearing protection goodbye. MSRP: Banish 20, $1,230 // Banish .410, $1,100
Federal Fit Pursuit Rifle Case
The everymanโs rifle has been changing a lot in recent years, but gun cases havenโt been keeping up. As optics and suppressors on modern sporting rifles like the AR-15 explode in popularity, more people need cases that will accommodate them. Federal is trying to meet that demand with the new Fit Pursuit case. Key features include suppressor protection, a heat-resistant lining and an adaptable fit thanks to the adjustable roll-up design. The Federal Fit Pursuit rifle case also has a heat-resistant pocket for storing suppressors or other gear, double shoulder straps, a carrying handle and a hanging loop. Itโs available in both 40- and 45-inch lengths. MSRP: $140
Pedersoli Kodiak Survivalist Rifle
Pedersoli is calling it a โgentlemanโs survival rifle,โ and we think thatโs a pretty apt description. This double rifle hearkens back to the safari guns of old, though its .44 Magnum chambering means itโs not suited for African dangerous game. For North America, however, that should handle everything save the very largest of threats. Designed to be compact with its 18.125-inch barrel and light with a weight of about 6 pounds, the Kodiak should be both easy to carry in the field and quick to handle when behind the sights. Speaking of sights, besides its irons, the Kodiak comes ready to mount an optional Picatinny rail for adding an optic. Pedersoli didnโt skimp on its aesthetics, either, as the Kodiak sports a color-case hardened frame and an oil-finished walnut stock with a checkered grip. MSRP: $2,705
Henry Explorer Carbine Series
Designed to be both practical and attractive, Henry Repeating Armsโ new Explorer Carbines feature a durable Burnt Bronze Cerakote protective finish inspired by the natural tones of the beautiful American Southwest. Henry says the Explorer Carbines are โthe first in a potential series of regionally inspired finishes.โ In terms of practical features, the new lever-actions sport threaded 16.5-inch barrels, sling swivel studs, adjustable sights and drilled and tapped receivers for optics. Available Explorer models include the H9 in .30-30 Winchester or .360 Buckhammer (four-round capacity), the H10 in .45-70 Govโt (four-round capacity) and the H12 in .357 Mag./.38 Spl or .44 Mag./.44 Spl (seven-round capacity). MSRP: $1,430
Henry Repeating Arms H9 Explorer .30-30 Winchester Lever H9 Explorer .30-30 16 ''
US Palm is mostly known for its AK magazines and accessories, but the company is now branching out into the AR-15 world. Not AR accessories, mind you, but complete AR rifles with its new Storm Series. US Palm says the rifles are duty-ready and being built for hard use. The first model to be released in the lineup is called the CAT4, and itโs a mostly standard-looking modern carbine with a few unique features to set it apart. Visually, the most interesting piece on the CAT4 is US Palmโs Hurricane hybrid flash hider/compensator muzzle device. It also sports a Mono-Loc handguard system, a US Palm reduced-angle pistol grip, fully ambidextrous controls and a Hiperfire EDT Designated Marksman Trigger. As for its barrel, itโs cold hammer forged 4150 chrome-moly and 16 inches. MSRP: $1,400
More Americans live in foliage-rich environments than arid ones, yet for some reason, everyone seems to want their gear in FDE. You can probably thank Global War on Terror movies for that. For those of us who want our gear to blend in with our local landscape, Magpul has just released six new Gen M3 PMAG options in OD Green. For 5.56, available models include a windowed 30-rounder, a non-windowed 30-rounder, a 20-rounder and a 10-rounder. Thereโs also a 30-round version optimized for .300 BLK and a 20-round option for SR25/M110-pattern rifles chambered for 7.62ร51 NATO. MSRP: $15-$23
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
The Angstadt Arms Vanquish 22 X Fletcher Rifle Works OpenTop 11/22 Takedown is one slick integrally suppressed rimfire rifle.
HK MP5SD, Welrod pistol, De Lisle carbine, VSS Vintorez, High Standard HDM. These are some especially iconic firearms from years past. What do they all have in common?
Yep, you got it โ theyโre all integrally suppressed guns that were designed with built-in suppressors.
Standalone suppressors are much more common. Theyโre designed and rated for certain calibers, and you attach them to your firearm by threading them on to the end of your barrel or attaching them to a compatible muzzle device. There are several advantages to a standalone can. You can use it on multiple hosts, and many suppressors can be used with multiple calibers, though they wonโt be optimized for all of them. Some are modular, so you can configure the length and level of sound mitigation to suit the task at hand.
With the wide diversity of suppressors available on the market, you can also select one thatโs designed to fit your specific needs, whether thatโs low back pressure, maximum sound performance, size and weight, budget, and so on.
Since suppressors are regulated under the National Firearms Act, theyโve always come part and parcel with paperwork headaches, long delays, and the cost of the tax stamp. Itโs no surprise that most folks would buy a standalone suppressor to use across multiple guns, rather than be locked into a dedicated application.
However, times have changed. With wait times now on the order of days or weeks and the cost of tax stamps down to zero, an integrally suppressed weapon isnโt so far-fetched anymore. In fact, itโs downright appealing.
It reduces the overall length of the weapon and mitigates the weight balance issues with standalone cans โ between the suppressor, muzzle device, and adapter, thatโs a lot of weight hanging off the very end of your muzzle. As a result, the integrated weapon system is more compact and handles better.
As a dedicated system, integrals are also optimized specifically for that particular firearm. So youโll trade flexibility for optimized performance.
While Angstadt could have made the Vanquish 16 inches long, the extra 2 inches provides more volume in the expansion chamber for better sound performance. Itโs still shorter than our 16-inch Radical RF22 with a Banish 22 suppressor.
Some integrals also provided an advantage in that you might avoid the need for another tax stamp for a short barrel in addition to a separate suppressor, but with $0 stamps, thatโs less of a concern now.
Angstadt Arms X Fletcher Rifle Works Vanquish 22TD X OpenTop 11/22 Takedown
Caliber: .22LR
Capacity: 10, 25
Weight: 4.1 pounds
Barrel length: 18 inches
Overall Length: 35.6 inches
MSRP: $1,400
Accessories
5.11 Tactical LVC12 backpack: $160
American Defense Manufacturing AD-RECON-SL scope mount: $227
Banish Suppressors Banish 22: $629
Radical Firearms RF22LR: $650
Vortex Optics Razor HD Gen II-E 1-6x scope: $2,400
ZeroTech Optics Trace Red Dot: $349
Modern Muskets
The Angstadt family has a rich and long legacy of building firearms, dating all the way back to the 1700s. Generations of Angstadts were known for their finely crafted muzzle-loaded long rifles, relied upon for hunting, self-defense, and even war.ย
The Fletcher Rifle Works OpenTop 11/22 is a delight to maintain. Pull out the captive take-down pin. Then, slide the top cover rearward and off the receiver. Fish out the charging handle. The bolt then comes right out.
Today, Angstadt Arms continues in the family footprints, pushing forward with modern weapon systems that are differentiated with unique or innovative features to stand out from the pack.
Angstadtโs Vanquish 22 system is one such example. At its core, itโs an integrally suppressed 22LR rimfire barrel. The family of Vanquish 22 products includes Ruger 10/22, Ruger Precision Rimfire, and AR fitments, with 12- and 18-inch variants.
Angstadt starts with a match-grade Shaw barrel made of 416R stainless steel with a Bentz match chamber. Itโs a full-length barrel, button rifled all the way to the muzzle, unlike many integrals whose overall length is part barrel and part silencer. The Vanquish is all barrel, with no baffles at all. With its match specs, this makes for precision accuracy.
A series of ports bleed gas into a large expansion chamber formed by the outer shroud that surrounds and threads onto the barrel. This serves to both reduce sound signature and reduce muzzle velocity, which can bring standard supersonic ammo down to subsonic levels (excluding higher-velocity loads). No baffles mean no baffle strikes or lead-caked baffles. And the Vanquish is much easier to maintain and clean.
The shroud is Cerakoted aluminum with a 0.92-inch outer diameter, the same as typical 10/22 bull barrels so it can be used with bull-compatible stocks.
You donโt even need a tool to service the Vanquish. Just grab the outer shroud firmly and unscrew it. This gives you unfettered access to clean underneath. Reinstallation is just as simple.
Angstadt now supports not just regular 10/22s but 10/22 Takedowns as well.
Say what? Integrally suppressed takedown 10/22? Sign us up!
Fletcher Rifle Works OpenTop
Naturally, we couldnโt just go with a garden-variety rifle. So, what we have here is the Vanquish 22TD fitted to a Fletcher Rifle Works OpenTop 11/22 Takedown receiver, housed in Magpulโs X-22 Backpacker stock.
We initially covered the OpenTop in RECOIL Issue 54, when it was still a prototype out of Europe. The basic concept is that 10/22s are a pain to fieldstrip, so why not add a removable top cover?
A single captive pin at the front of the receiver holds the top cover in place. Pull it out to release the cover. It slides directly to the rear and comes right off, exposing the innards below. At this point, itโs easy to fish out the charging handle. Then, the bolt simply falls right out of the top. You can wipe and lube the trigger below, in situ.
If you want to run a cleaning rod from the breech, remove the buttstock and buffer pin; this exposes a hole in the rear of the receiver that you can run your rod through. This is a thoughtful touch that isnโt even possible on a regular 10/22.
Ours is the takedown version of the OpenTop. It has a stub of a Picatinny rail on the receiver itself with the remainder of the top rail on the removable cover. The rest of the OpenTop is pure Ruger spec, so you can install your 10/22 trigger and takedown barrel of choice.
Our OpenTop came with a Ruger BX trigger that breaks cleanly at 2.75 pounds. It also sports an extended magazine release and charging handle.
The Magpul stock is excellent. The buttstock has built-in storage for three spare 10-round magazines under the hinged cheek rest and spare parts in the grip. Once broken down, the barrel and handguard assembly clip into the stock to make a secure and compact package for transport.
SSHHHH
Rimfire guns are notoriously picky when it comes to ammunition selection, not just for reliable functioning but accuracy as well. Anyone who loves 22s has a bin full of different ammo to test in new guns to find the sweet spot.
In our case, we tested various loads in the Vanquish for function, velocity, and accuracy. We also shot them back-to-back with a Radical Firearms RF22LR rifle sporting a conventional Banish 22 suppressor to compare velocities and sound.
Note that the Radical has a 16-inch barrel, but the Vanquishโs muzzle velocities were still 5 to 6 percent lower. When shooting standard ammo, sound was similar between the two with a slight edge to the Vanquish. As ammo got hotter the difference increased and the Vanquish was noticeably quieter. When running subsonic loads, this was reversed. Even the hotter ammo was entirely comfortable to shoot without hearing protection, and the quieter loads reminded us of how incredibly fun it is to shoot suppressed rimfire. It just puts a smile on your face, especially with a semi-auto. Note that Franklin Armory just announced the F22-V with a Vanquish barrel and binary trigger for yet more giggles.
Not surprisingly, match ammo did the best, with Norma Match-22 40-grain holding the golden ticket of smallest groups and perfect reliability โ 0.5 MOA and no malfunctions. Federal Gold Medal 40-grainโs best group was 1.5 MOA, but we experienced a few stovepipes. CCI Clean-22 subsonic 40-grain and Federal Champion 36-grain value pack both grouped around 2 MOA. While the Federal ran perfectly, the CCI subs had a number of stovepipes. Norma Subsonic-22 40-grain as well as CCI Clean-22 High Velocity 40-grain and Hyper Velocity 31-grain all grouped around 2.5 MOA and functioned reliably.
With optics mounted to a Picatinny rail on a removable top cover, we felt it prudent to also test return to zero. After several iterations of removing and reinstalling the top cover, we saw zero shifts of up to one MOA. For the intended purpose of a takedown rifle, we consider this acceptable. That said, if youโre running a small red dot on a mount with a small footprint, attach it to the short piece of rail thatโs fixed on the receiver to avoid this altogether. If your priority is precision, you could skip the takedown format and stick to a standard 10/22-style build for your Vanquish.
Loose Rounds
The Angstadt Vanquish 22 and Fletcher Rifle Works OpenTop takedown rifle is undeniably cool. It attracted a lot of attention at the shop and on the range; everyone loved it. While we had to sort through various ammo options, we found one that was impressively accurate with half-MOA groups, not to mention reliable and quiet. If you want to sway new shooters into the fold and get them addicted to shooting, hand them one of these rifles to plink with.
This rifle would also be a great survival rifle. Itโs light and the takedown feature makes it very portable. You can run either subs or supers quietly, so whatever ammo you might be able to scavenge would be quiet, though group sizes might spread out a bit. The Vanquish is capable of extremely good accuracy, and you could hunt with it or defend yourself against two-legged adversaries. You can maintain and clean the system easily in austere conditions โ the Vanquish wonโt get nasty like conventional rimfire suppressors, making you wish for an ultrasonic cleaner. And the OpenTop makes the bolt and receiver a cinch to maintain.
The Vanquish is also very discreet; it just looks like a regular 10/22 with a bull barrel. Nothing to see here โฆ that is, until you hear (or donโt) those sweet โthwap thwapโ sounds that it makes.
Yes, this build isnโt cheap, but youโll appreciate all the premium aspects of it. If you already have a Ruger 10/22 Takedown, you can just get the Vanquish 22TD barrel for it, which retails at $599.
Come on in, the waterโs fine.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking to set up your MP5 for use with NODs? Take a look at Midwest Industries’ Night Vision Optic Claw Mount.
The MP5 is a legendary platform that, while pushing 60-years-old, is not going away any time soon. With the proliferation of good-quality MP5 clones on the market, new life has been given to this grand-daddy pistol caliber carbine.
While age and experience count for a lot, it doesnโt improve basic mounting options. Like the AK, the MP5 suffers from the fact that it was built before optics were really a viable option, and the design doesnโt inherently lend itself well to modernization. Lucky for us, brands like Midwest Industries are around to help out.
Build List:
Military Arms Corporation MAC 5
Midwest Industries MP5 Suppressor Handguard
Midwest Industries MP5 NV Optic Claw Mount
JMAC Customs 1913 Adapter
JMAC Arm Brace
SB Tactical SBA3 Brace
Timney Triggers MP5 Trigger
Magpul MP5 Safety
Shadow Systems HS923 Suppressor w/ Tri-Lug Mount
Holosun IRIS-GR3
StreamLight ProTac 2.0
Little over a year ago, the Military Arms Corporation MAC 5 was outfitted with the Midwest Industries Suppressor Handguard and the basic claw mount for optics. The handguard has tons of MLOK and makes mounting a WML a lot easier, and provides protection for the suppressor, but itโs still cramped for real estate due to the short barrel. To solve that, Midwest Industries has released the MP5/MP5K NV Optic Mount for 1913 Picatinny, ACRO, or Aimpoint T1/2 mounting.
The NV mount uses the same standard MP5 claw mounting, but totally changes what happens up top. Instead of a standard Pic rail, the NV mount is a two-tiered mount with Pic rail on the lower step and one of the three choices on top.
This added area is perfect for an IR light/laser combo and puts the red dot optic of your choice at a much more comfortable height for use with night vision goggles. For mine, a Holosun IRIS-GR3 IR unit was added with a Lead & Steel Pandora PB-3. These, plus a StreamLight ProTac 2.0 out front on the MI handguard, provide everything needed in the day or night.
MIโs mount is rock solid, using the same claw mounting that has worked for MP5s for decades. While not the most modern, it works, itโs easy to install, and itโs robust. Even with getting dropped and kicked around, the Holosun IRIS-GE3 hasnโt lost zero on the MI NV mount.
While I canโt say the MP5 is the top of my list for guns to grab when something goes bump in the night, it is my favorite PCC for vibes alone. Adding real night vision mounting only adds to that.
Over the past year+, the MAC 5 has proven to be a reliable MP5 clone that ticks all the boxes for me. Fun, reliable, and feels right. This build has seen another 1,000 rounds at the range and in local matches and has run 100% in that time. Now with a raised optic and the IRIS-GR3 on top, it will see more time at night shoots and desert campouts.
FN has just announced the PUREVIEW, a pistol red dot that uses holographic technology.
The fact that the FN PUREVIEW is enclosed isnโt the most exciting part about the company’s new pistol optic, itโs the fact that itโs holographic. Traditional red dots use an LED emitter to bounce light off a reflective, curved lens back into the shooterโs eye, creating the reticle. Conversely, holographic sights use a laser diode and a holographic grating to project a 3D image of the reticle towards the target on a flat lens. While there are pros and cons to each type, holographic sights generally offer a crisper reticle, a sharper image and a clearer, less distorted sight picture.
While holographic sights for carbines are typically heavier than their simpler red dot counterparts, FN says that the PUREVIEW is about 25 percent lighter than similar enclosed pistol optics. Despite the low weight, the sight is built to be durable, and like all holo sights, the reticle will still be visible and fully usable even if the lens is damaged. Limited battery life has also historically been a downside of holographic sights, but FN says that theirs will be capable of 800 hours of continuous use or up to one year of intermittent use in battery saving mode.
Other features of the FN PUREVIEW include its 14 levels of automatic brightness adjustment (including three for night vision use and three ultra-bright settings) for its 3-MOA reticle, motion-sense technology to preserve battery life and a top-loading battery compartment that can be accessed without removing the optic from the gun. For mounting, FN says that the PUREVIEW โis compatible with FN pistol models designed for optics, including the FN 509, FN 510, FN 545, and FN Five-seveN.โ Thatโs a little vague, but it likely means that it features a modified DeltaPoint Pro footprint. For mounting on pistols that donโt have the FN Low Profile Optics Mounting System, an adaptor plate may be required.
Chris Johnson, Senior Product Manager for Pistols at FN America, said this about the new optic:
Holographic projection is highly complex to develop, but we’ve successfully adapted it for use on a pistol โฆ The result is a clearer sight picture and improved accuracy, especially at longer distances, giving users real-world performance benefits.
The FN PUREVIEW is expected to become available later this year in black and FDE, and it will have an MSRP of $750.
There are things that criminals know that you donโt, but here are some lessons that will help really keep you safe.
I recently attended the Crime and Criminals seminar presented by John Hearne of Two Pillars Training, an annual update he delivers through Citizen Safety Academy. It reinforced something most armed citizens intuitively sense but rarely see laid out this clearly: Much of what we believe about crime in America is either incomplete, misleading or simply wrong.
Hearne holds a masterโs degree in criminal justice with a concentration in research methods, a public safety career stretching back to 1986 across fire, police, EMS and more than a decade as a federal law enforcement officer. Heโs a published author and rangemaster instructor since 2001. What followed over two hours was one of the most grounded and practically valuable presentations Iโve sat through in years of firearms training.
His seminar isnโt about tactics or gear. It focuses on something more foundational: the reality of crime, how criminals think and how ordinary people become victims. For anyone serious about personal defense, this is where the conversation should start.
The First Hard Truth: The Data Isnโt What You Think
Most people assume FBI crime statistics offer a reliable picture of reality. Hearne makes a compelling case they do not. The FBIโs Uniform Crime Reports rely on โcrimes known to police,โ which excludes everything unreportedโand according to Bureau of Justice Statistics survey data, less than half of violent crime is ever reported to law enforcement.
In 2023, the FBI published data suggesting violent crime dropped roughly 2 percent in 2022. Revised 2024 figures quietly revealed an actual net increase of about 41/2 percent, a swing of more than 6 points that never got a press release, discovered only when a criminologist noticed something odd while downloading fresh data. Cities like Washington, D.C., have been caught classifying gunshot-wound transports as routine EMS calls, effectively erasing violent crimes from the record.
By comparing FBI data to CDC homicide records, Hearne showed the FBI misses roughly 17 percent of homicides. If the agency is missing 1 in 6 murders, he asked, what percentage of rapes and aggravated assaults are going uncounted? His rule of thumb: Take the FBIโs violent crime numbers and multiply by 5. Youโll still probably come up short.
The Criminal Justice System Is Not Your Safety Net
Only about 3 percent of all violent victimizations and property crimes ever result in a prison sentence. Clearance rates hover around 15 to 20 percent for property crime and roughly 40 percent for violent crime, and clearance doesnโt mean conviction. Many cases end in diversion, plea agreements or minimal consequences.
Hearne illustrated the dysfunction with the case of Eliza Fletcher, a Memphis pre-K teacher murdered in 2022 by a man who had served 20 of 24 years for a prior kidnapping and robbery, received a new conviction for indecent exposure inside prison just one month before release, and then kidnapped and raped another woman almost immediately after getting out, but the sexual assault kit from that crime sat untested on a shelf. The system had multiple opportunities to intervene and did nothing with any of them.
He also pushed back on the narrative that American prisons are full of nonviolent drug offenders. In state prisons, only 16 percent of inmates are serving drug-related sentences, and fewer than 1 percent are there for low-level charges with no history of violence. More than half the non-federal prison population is locked up for violent crimes. Hearneโs conclusion is blunt. If you want to meaningfully reduce the prison population, you are, by the numbers, talking about the possibility of releasing people convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping.
Criminals Choose You Faster Than You Think
Hearne referenced a landmark 1981 study in which convicted criminals were shown videos of pedestrians and asked to rate their ease of victimization. The inmates showed striking consensus, and they werenโt evaluating victims by size, dress or apparent wealth. They were reading gait, stride length, weight shift and arm swing. These indicators signaled vulnerability more reliably than anything else. Subsequent research using point-light kinematics confirmed it. People form accurate assessments of vulnerability from movement alone in under 2 seconds.
What criminals are asking is simple: Can this person fight back? Are they paying attention? Is the reward worth the risk? Most are rational actors running a rapid cost-benefit calculation, and their default when uncertain is to move on to an easier target. Hearne called inducing that hesitation a โrestraining judgment.โ As he put it, quoting Clint Smith, โIf you look like food, you will be eaten.โ
Itโs Not the OddsโItโs the Stakes
The statistical likelihood of violent crime in any given year may feel low, but over a lifetime that risk compounds, and when violent crime materializes, the consequences are often permanent. A better framework balances likelihood against consequence. Property crime is common and highly deterrable. Most residential burglaries are opportunistic, local and conducted during daylight by offenders seeking the easiest target. Simple measures like reinforced entry points, visible deterrents and limiting outward signs of valuable property shift the calculation in your favor.
Violent crime is less frequent but categorically different in consequence. As Hearne put it, borrowing from his late colleague William Aprill, โYour understanding and consent are not required for someone to take your life, kill your loved ones and destroy all that you hold dear.โ That is not fear-mongering. That is the correct framing for how seriously to take preparation.
Where Firearms Actually Fit
Hearne was careful not to deliver a โgo buy a gunโ pitch. His framework builds in layers: general de-selection through awareness and not projecting vulnerability; specific de-selection through verbal skills when someone is running the pre-attack interview on you; and forced de-selection when the first two have failed.
The numbers on armed resistance are worth knowing. Complying completely in an armed robbery still leaves a 25 percent chance of injury, and the robbery succeeds 90 percent of the time. Resistance with a firearm drops injury odds to 17 percent and rarely allows the crime to complete. Resistance before injury drops that to around 6 percent. For rape specifically, armed resistance is the most effective deterrent to completion and does not increase physical harm to the victim. Research also shows defensive gun uses frequently occur without a shot fired. The presence of a firearm alone can stop a crime in progress.
A gun is not the first solution. It is the last. But as Hearne noted, โMost of the time, you donโt need a parachute, but when you do, nothing else will substitute.โ
The Bottom Line
Personal safety begins long before any confrontation. Crime is underreported. Risk is local and situational. Criminals make fast, rational decisions, and the system most people trust to protect them is working at a fraction of the capacity they imagine.
For the armed citizen, this knowledge is not academic. It is the foundation on which every other preparation rests. The objective is not simply to be armed. It is to be prepared, aware and genuinely difficult to victimize.
Hearne offers this seminar annually through Citizen Safety Academy, and additional training through Two Pillars Training. If you get the opportunity, take it. It is not the most fun class. It is the necessary one.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
CANCON East is back in the Carolinas for another year!
Welcome to CANCON A Fully Suppressed Range Day! The Worldโs Favorite Suppressed Shooting Festival!
CANCON is back again on the East Coast: Clinton, South Carolina. Join us at The Clinton House, May 8th-9th, 2026 for an action-packed weekend of fully suppressed shooting!
The Clinton House Plantation Shooting Complex is a massive venue and gives CANCON the room we need to expand! Located just 45 minutes south of Greenville, South Carolina, 1 hour north of Columbia, and 2 hours southwest of Charlotte, NC.
More space means more shooting lanes and more sponsors! Find more guns to shoot, more suppressors to test, all for one low ticket price!
Get on the 1,000-yard and 1-mile range and send some lead way, way down range!
Clinton House has tons of FREE onsite parking! Shooting all that free ammo will make you hungry, so stop by the concessions to refuel!
General admission is available Friday and Saturday, May 8th & 9th, $50 per day, or save money and get the entire weekend for just $85!
More information and ticket pre-sales are now available at the CANCON WEBSITE!
Early Access to CANCON from 2PM to 4PM on Thursday May 7th, followed by a catered dinner. Access to CANCON from 9AM to 4PM on May 8th & 9th, plus the legendary VIP Swag Bag!
VIP SWAG Bag from CANCON, Arizona
PROS Vs. JOES, SHIRTS, AND MORE
Returning to CANCON is PROS Vs. JOES! We select a random participant from the crowd to go head-to-head against a seasoned pro shooter. Can an everyday Joe outshoot a Recoil Pro in a high-stakes shooting competition? If they do, they win BIG!
CANCON T-shirts will be available for pre-order and at CANCON! These are high-quality shirts that feel great and look awesome.
CANCON Carolians 2024 shirts, new shirt coming soon!
Subscribe to the CANCON Event Newsletter
Visit the CANCON website and enter your email in the signup box to be the first to learn about updates and developments!
Prioritizing four mandatory traits of a concealed carry handgun.
There are hundreds of pistols marketed as being suitable for concealed carry. Choosing one that might be the best option for you can seem daunting, but thereโs a method you can employ that is very practical. It involves prioritizing the most important aspects of a concealed carry pistol, which includeโin order of importanceโcarry and concealability, reliability, shootability and effectiveness.
This hierarchy might surprise many who believe effectiveness/ballistics should be most important, so letโs look at each aspect individually and some rules I think should apply.
Ease of Carry & Concealability
If you have a pistol for concealed carry that you find uncomfortable to carry or hard to conceal, you simply will not carry itโno matter how effective it might be. As they say, the first rule of participation in a gun fight is to have a gun.
The compact 9mm pistol has become the most popular for concealed carry because for most it offers the best balance of everything that matters.
For example, few would argue the effectiveness of a 10mm pistol, such as the 6-inch barreled Kodiak from Dan Wesson. After all, it can launch a 180-grain bullet to almost 1,300 fps with double the kinetic energy of the 9mm Luger. But it also weighs more than 50 ounces when fully loaded and is almost 10 inches long.
This Wilson Combat SFX pistol in 9mm is soft shooting and accurate. But, fully loaded, it is heavy and may be too much gun for some to comfortably carry and conceal.
Rule 1: Find the size of pistol you can comfortably carry and easily conceal. Then, assemble your options accordingly.
Reliability
If you are required to shoot your concealed carry pistol to try to keep from becoming un-alive or seriously injured, it must work. It must work for the first shot, the second shot, and every shot thereafter. (I once responded to a shootout behind a bar early one morning and on the ground beside the dead guy was a pistol with a stove-pipe jam.)
Fortunately, most modern pistols from reputable manufacturers are very reliable, but you might discover that you do not interface with a certain pistol very well and that lack of a smooth interface can cause stoppages. You might also find out a specific pistolโno matter how trusted the modelโhas reliability issues.
Rule 2: Settle for no less than 100 percent reliability from your carry gun when shooting self-defense ammunition.
Shootability
You need to be able to hit what youโre shooting at. Yes, just pointing a pistol at, or shooting at, a bad guy might be enough to make them stop doing bad things. But if that does not work, youโre going to need the bullets you launch to find their mark. You might interface wonderfully well with a specific pistol, and it might never malfunction, but if you cannot hit what youโre shooting atโand you know you can shoot betterโitโs not the pistol for you.
Sub-compact pistols can be difficult to shoot fast and accurately, but a compensator like the one on this Wilson Combat P365 2.0 can help without sacrificing ease of carry and concealability.
What youโre looking for is a pistol you can shoot fast and accurately, but itโs hard to give a performance threshold when it comes to shootability, because of the different skill levels of shooters. Consider using a common defensive handgun drillโsomething like the Forty-Five Drillโto evaluate your abilities with any handgun youโre considering carrying.
Rule 3: If, from 5 yards, you cannot put five shots into a 5-inch circle in 5 seconds with your chosen pistol, it might very well be the wrong handgun for you.
Effectiveness
This is the aspect of defensive handguns that often causes the most worry or disagreements, and it deals with the cartridge more than the pistol. Although, the pistol matters, too, because a particular cartridge might generate a recoil impulse that makes the pistol unshootable for you. The most carried self-defense pistol cartridges are the 9mm Luger, .40 S&W and .45 Auto. Less popular are smaller pistol cartridges like the .22 LR, the .25, .32 and .380 Auto, and the semi-recently introduced .30 Super Carry.
Itty-bitty pistols like this Beretta chambered for the .22 Long Rifle are difficult to shoot with speed and finesse, but you can hide them very comfortably.
In attempting to answer the question of which cartridge is the most effective, the answer is really very simple: Itโs the cartridge thatโs capable of delivering the largest caliber bullet at the fastest velocity. However, between the three most popular cartridges, and even the .30 Super Carry, the distance between their effectiveness is not as broad as you might think. Given good shot placement, they will all work about the same.
A shooterโs needs vary due to skill and hand and arm strength. Maybe for you a lightweight pistol like this Sig Sauer P322 is all you can manage.
Rule 4: Choose the largest caliber cartridge with the fastest velocity that you can comfortably manage and shoot well, in a pistol that you can carry and conceal reasonably easy.
Starting Your Search
When all these considerations are looked at in totality, the little itty-bitty guns are often avoided because theyโre either hard to shoot or because they do not offer optimum effectiveness. Conversely, the big pistols are rarely chosen because theyโre very hard to comfortably carry and conceal.
Today, handgun weight is a great classifying metric and the compact handgunsโweighing between 24 and 32 ouncesโin 9mm Luger have become the most popular. This is because for most people they offer the best balance of carry ease, shootability and effectiveness with 100 percent reliability.
This classification of pistols is where I would suggest most start their search. You might find that a compact pistol in 9mm Luger recoils a bit much for your shooting comfort. Your option then is to step up to a full-size pistol or drop down to a lesser cartridge. If you find a compact 9mm soft shooting, you could opt for a more powerful cartridge that might be more effective or for a sub-compact pistol that could be easier to carry and conceal.
Most shooters trade or upgrade their carry gun in the first few years because theyโre either looking for something that fits them better or because they want a better quality or more powerful pistol. Thereโs nothing wrong with that.
As you learn and become a better shooter, you might go through multiple pistols before you find the one thatโs just right for you. However, if youโre just beginning your search or are unhappy with your first purchase, consider these four aspects of a carry pistol and maybe try a compact 9mm, at least as a point of departure.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Optics get dirty, but the Otis Lens Cleaning Kit helps you keep seeing clearly.
These days, it seems most guns are wearing optics. From magnified scopes on hunting rifles to red-dot sights on carry pistols and everything in between. The reality is that if you shoot or even just carry your guns, their optics will eventually get dirty, some a lot sooner than others depending on how youโre using them. Between range practice and daily carry, I noticed that the Holosun SCS on my Glock 26 had gotten pretty nasty, but thankfully getting it clean again was a quick and easy process thanks to Otisโ Lens Cleaning Kit.
The compact kit includes everything you need to clean a dirty lens: a mohair lens brush, a spray bottle of anti-fog lens cleaner, a few anti-fog lens swabs, a lens cleaning cloth and a pack of lens tissues. Iโm not entirely convinced that the โlens swabsโ arenโt just Q-tips, but that doesnโt matter; they work and arenโt the reason you buy the kit, regardless. Besides, when you run out of the ones provided by Otis, sourcing some more should be pretty easy.
What you buy the Lens Cleaning Kit for is the spray, the premium lens brush and the tissues. Not to mention the convenience of having everything you need in a handy little box.
The cleaning process is easy. First, you wipe off any loose dust and debris with the lens brush, then you give it a squirt of the lens cleaner. A little goes a long way, so the bottle should last a good many cleaning sessions. Next, you clean the surface by gently wiping the lens with one of the cotton swabs before drying any remaining fluid with one of the absorbent lens tissues. The whole process only took a couple of minutes for me to have my Holosun SCS looking as good as new.
The Otis Lens Cleaning Kit has an MSRP of $23.69, and you can usually find it being sold online for decently less than that. For the convenience the kit provides, and how many optics youโll be able to clean with it before the bottle runs dry, I think itโs well worth that price.
Smith & Wesson has just upgraded its classic defensive snubby with the Bodyguard 38 2.0.
Snub-nose Smith & Wesson revolvers have been a staple of self-defense for a very long time, and one of the go-to models is the Bodyguard 38. While the last incarnation of this revolver has been discontinued, Smith just gave it a facelift and replaced it with the new Bodyguard 38 2.0.
Firstly, letโs talk about whatโs stayed the same. Itโs still a 5-shot, double-action only .38 Special +P snub-nose revolver. It still has a 1.875-inch stainless steel barrel, and it still features an aluminum alloy upper frame and polymer grip module to keep the weight at a minimum. The base model weighs a scant 14.2 ounces unloaded. Also, it still has the neat center-mounted ambidextrous cylinder release.
The new features of the Bodyguard 38 2.0 may sound insignificant, but they should make a noticeable difference when shooting it. Namely, the sights have been improved. Now, instead of a simple black front post and a rear gutter sight, the 2.0 has a bright orange dot front sight and a U-notch rear sight integrated into the gutter. Secondly, it features an enhanced boot-style grip that should go a long way to help absorb the recoil from defensive +P loads. Finally, the extractor rod has been improved to help kick out cases a bit more smoothly.
Like its predecessor, the new Bodyguard 38 2.0 is available either with (MSRP: $550) or without (MSRP: $450) an integrated Crimson Trace laser.
Want a premium double-stack 9mm 1911? Check out Wilson Combatโs new eXperior Elite Commander.
According to Wilson Combat, the eXperior Elite Commander got its name from mashing the words “excellence” and “superior” together, and it combines refined ergonomics with a large capacity and a performance-driven design. The name may be a bit on the nose, but who cares? The pistol is packed with features and capable of some serious shooting.
Built for extreme accuracy while still being compact enough to carry, the eXperior Elite Commander features a precision-machined 4.25-inch match-grade stainless fluted bull barrel with a flush-cut reverse crown and dual locking lugs. Thatโs why Wilson Combat guarantees an accuracy of 1.5-MOA at 25 yards, a feat that shouldnโt be hard to achieve thanks to its crisp 3.5- to 4.5-pound trigger and optics-ready slide. Like other Wilson Combat handguns, it uses the companyโs adjustable Pin Mounting Platform system that allows for direct-mounting red dots without using adapter plates.
To keep things lightweight, the pistol has an aluminum frame, and it features an accessory rail and an integrated magwell. Capacity is 18+1 rounds of 9mm and each pistol ships with two mags. Other features of the eXperior include TRAK-textured front and backstraps, removable G10 Starburst grips, a concealment hammer, and an ambidextrous thumb safety and magazine release.
The eXperior Elite Commander Double Stack has an MSRP of $4,000 and is available now.
Want to get better at handling the hard hitters? Here are six ways to reduce felt recoil from the bench.
When we shoot from a bench rest, weโre usually sighting in a rifle or testing ammunition. When doing either, itโs important to get the best shot to shot results we can. The problem is that sustained recoil can negatively impact not only your shooting but also your enjoyment. There are some ways you can mitigate felt recoil when shooting from a bench rest, and these techniques become very important when you crawl behind a hard-kicking rifle.
The general consensus among firearms trainers is that most experienced adult shooters can withstand about 20 shots from a bench rest with a .30-06 Springfield rifle without experiencing excessive discomfort or a negative impact on accuracy and precision. The amount of free recoil energy the average .30-06 rifle with a scope will generate is right at about 20 foot-pounds. Of course, some rifles recoil much harder. A .338 Winchester Magnum can generate almost twice as much free recoil energy.
But itโs not always about free recoil energy.
Due to the configuration of some rifles and their lack of a soft butt pad, even lighter recoiling rifles can be uncomfortable to shoot, and too, everyone has different recoil tolerance levels.
Years ago, I purchased a Marlin 1895 Cowboy lever action rifle in .45-70 Government. Based on recoil calculations, that rifle recoiled with just a tad more than 20 foot-pounds of free recoil energy. However, because of the way the rifle was configured with its thin hard plastic butt plate, it was painful to shoot from the bench. Shooting while standing offhand wasnโt bad at all, but after four or five shots off a bench with full-power loads, your eyes would start watering.
Shooting a hard-kicking rifle off hand will not hurt as bad as shooting from a bench because of how you hold the rifle and how your body can rock with the recoil while standing.
If youโre going to be doing a good bit of shooting from a bench rest with a rifle that has a bit of bite, try some of these techniques to help diminish that bite. Individually they all work, but by combining them you can usually make a rifle thatโs no fun at all to shoot from a bench at least tolerable enough to allow you to test several loads and/or sight it in.
1: Hold Her With Passion
As soon as a rifle fires, it will begin moving to the rear. If there is a space between the rifleโs butt pad and your shoulder, that movement and impact will enhance recoil pain. This is especially true if the rifle does not have a soft butt pad.
Holding the forend of the rifle in your hand and placing your hand on the front bag can help slightly with recoil control, but wrapping the rifle strap around the front bag is a better technique.
Before you press the trigger, make sure the butt stock is snug against your shoulderโbut be careful not to pull the rifle back into your shoulder forcibly. The stress of your muscles will make it more difficult to hold the rifle on target steady.
Make sure the butt pad of the rifle has solid contact with your shoulder, but do not apply extreme force.
2: As Mom Would Say: Sit Up!
When most shooters get behind a rifle positioned on a bench rest, they tend to position the rifle as close to the bench as possible. If you do that and youโre about 6 feet tall, with most benches you will need to lean over to get low enough to place your shoulder on the rifle stock and your eye behind the sights. This position puts more of your body behind the rifle and when the rifle recoils your body will absorbโfeelโmore of the recoil because your body will not move easily to the rear.
The more erect you can sit behind the rifle, the less unpleasant the felt recoil will seem.
The closer you can sit to an erect position when you shoot from a bench the less you will feel the punch on your shoulder. It more closely replicates shooting from a standing position. A gunsmith I know who builds dangerous game rifles built his test shooting bench high enough to shoot from while standing to limit felt recoil.
3: Get Yourself a Sissy Pad
One of the easiest ways to limit the pain associated with recoil when shooting from a benchrest is to use a sissy pad. These are pads you strap on your shoulder to help mitigate recoil. Caldwell and PAST offer several versionsโand they do work. Your range buddies might call you a sissy and rag on you for using one โฆ but just ignore them.
A recoil shield or sissy pad like this one can help reduce felt recoil.
Remember, the reason youโre shooting from a bench is to evaluate ammo or sight in your rifle, and both need to be accomplished with as much precision as possible. You donโt shoot from a bench rest to demonstrate your manhood.
4: Slings Arenโt Just For Shoulders
When I am doing a lot of shooting from the bench with a rifle that has stiff recoil, I like to take the rifle strap and loop it firmly around the top front sandbag(s). This can tremendously reduce the reward force of the rifle during recoil, because the rifle must pull against the weight of the sandbag as it moves to the rear. If youโre using a real sandbagโfilled with sandโas opposed to those filled with polymer pellets, this technique works like a lead sled.
By wrapping the sling around the front sandbag(s), it will effectively serve as a recoil restraint without putting undue stress on the rifle.
5: Itโs Time to Get a Suppressor
The baffles inside a suppressor redirect and slow the gas produced when a rifle is fired. This, in conjunction with the weight a suppressor adds to the rifle, helps reduce free recoil energy, sometimes by more than 25 percent.
A suppressor can substantially reduce the felt recoil of any rifle.
But when it comes to felt recoil, the reduction can seem even more. With big-bore, hard-kicking rifles, the reduction is very noticeable because big-bore rifles require big, heavy suppressors. For example, the Banish V46 V2 suppressor, which will work on 0.375- and 0.458-caliber rifles, weighs right at 1 pound.
6: Itโs OK to Put on Weight
The Caldwell Lead Sled is a mechanical rifle rest that has a cradle for your rifleโs forearm and a pocket for the butt stock. Itโs adjustable and holds the rifle reasonably firmly. If you add one or more bags of lead shot to the undertray, it can eliminate a lot of felt recoil. The system, however, is not perfect because you are dramatically altering the way the rifle reacts to recoil โฆ and this can alter your point of impact.
Recoil from rifles shot from the bench feels harder, but it is unavoidable for zeroing and testing ammo.
If you sight in your rifle with a lead sled, you should confirm your zero without it. Also, with extremely hard-recoiling rifles, the lead sled can strain the bedding of the rifle and, in some cases with extensive shooting, cause damage.
A lead sled still has application and is especially useful with new or young shooters who are very recoil sensitive, but if you properly employ the first five techniques a Lead Sled is not necessary.
Donโt Overdo It
All these techniquesโindividually or combinedโcan help you make hard kickers more tolerable to shoot. But even with these techniques, some rifles can still be uncomfortable. Itโs not just the impact on your shoulder; it can be the sort of whiplash sensation applied to your neck.
One of the best things to do when shooting a heavy recoiling rifle is to shoot in moderation. A sustained pounding is what puts professional fighters on the canvas, and it does little to help you shoot your best.
Physics Lesson: Free Recoil Energy
If you use the internet as a source for recoil calculation, youโll find various calculators you can plug data into to determine the recoil velocity, recoil energy and recoil impulse of a gun. Ironically, just as two shooters will experience the felt recoil of the same gun differently, these calculators will give you different resultsโtheyโll be close but rarely identical.
But does it matter?
Not really, because none of these calculators will tell you exactly what it feels like to shoot a specific gun with a specific load. Still, because humans are conditioned to rate or score everything by numbers, we want a numerical answer to everything including how hard a gun will kick.
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturersโ Institute (SAAMI) sets the specifications manufacturers follow when they make guns and ammo and is a great source for free recoil energy information.
According to SAAMI, the momentum of a free-recoiling firearm is equal and opposite in direction to the momentum of the bullet (or shot charge/slug and wad column) and the propellant gases. Because propellant gases are extremely difficult to weigh, SAAMI equates the propellant gas weight to the powder charge weight.
But SAAMI tempers the velocity of the propellent gases based on gun type. The way the different calculators express the velocity of propellent gases is one reason youโll see different results from different formulas.
According to SAAMI, the formula for determining the free recoil energy (FRE) of a firearm can be expressed as:
FRE = WF/(2×32.17) ((WEVE + WPCVEf)/(7000 x WF))2
where:
WF = weight of firearms in pounds
WE = weight (in grains of the ejectaโbullet or shot and wad column)
VE = velocity of the ejecta in feet per second
WPC = weight of projectile charge in grains
7000 = conversion factor for grains to pounds
VEฦ = velocity of the propellant gases (VE) multiplied by gun factor (ฦ)
where the value of ฦ =:
High Powered Rifle – 1.75VE
Shotguns (average length) – 1.50VE
Shotguns (long barrel) – 1.25VE
Pistols & revolvers – 1.50VE
Given this formula, a 7-pound high-powered rifle firing a 165-grain bullet with a powder charge weight of 40 grains at a muzzle velocity of 2,700 fps would have 18.26 foot-pounds of free recoil energy (FRE):
I plugged this same data into three online recoil calculators, and the results were: 18.19, 18.2, 18.88, for an average of 18.42 foot-pounds for free recoil energy. You can take the time to work the formula, but that time will be mostly a waste because weโre all going to experience recoil force differently โฆ at least by as much as the varied results provided by online calculators.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Taurus has just launched the RPC, a 9mm PCC with a roller-locked action.
A roller-locked 9mm PCC from Taurus wasnโt on my bingo card this year, but thatโs exactly what weโre getting with the RPC. Itโs an exciting new option in this increasingly popular class of firearm.
Built on a lightweight yet durable aluminum receiver, Taurus says the RPC is duty-grade and made to NATO standards. The gunโs controls are similar to an AR, so they should be familiar to most, and theyโre fully ambidextrous as well. That includes the bolt release/lock and the mag release, and the non-reciprocating charging handle is reversible.
With a barrel length of 4.5 inches and an overall length of 12.2 inches, the RPC is incredibly compact, and itโs pretty light too with a weight of about 4.5 pounds. For mounting accessories, it features a full-length Picatinny rail on top, an M-LOK handguard and a threaded muzzle. It has a quick-change barrel system as well that Taurus says may come into play down the road.
The standard RPC variant comes with a vertical segment of Picatinny rail on the rear of the receiver for attaching braces or stocks, but it can also be ordered with a Strike Industries FSA folding brace preinstalled. It uses 32-round magazines, and two are included with each gun, but theyโre unfortunately proprietary. The RPC is offered with 10-round mags as well. Other features include its single-stage flat trigger, use of AR-pattern grips (soft rubber over molded grip included) and three QD sling attachment points throughout.
Bret Vorhees, President and CEO of Taurus USA, said this about the new PCC:
The RPC marks an important step for Taurus as we expand into a new category โฆ It’s a platform built to be reliable, easy to use, and adaptable – while staying true to the value our customers expect.
MSRP for the standard Taurus RPC is $940, and is $1,100 for the braced version.
If you carry a Glock 43X or 48, you can now get factory mags with 50 percent greater capacity.
A lot of people enjoy carrying Glockโs Slimline pistols, the 43X and 48, because of their small size. What these guns were always lacking compared to similar micro 9mm concealed carry pistols, however, was capacity. Their 10-round mags certainly pushed many to consider other makes and models, while others relied on aftermarket 15-round magazines to up their capacity. When it comes to the tool you trust your life with, reliability is paramount, and some shooters donโt have faith in anything that doesnโt have a Glock logo stamped on it. Given the companyโs reputation for good quality control, thatโs understandable. Well, now no compromise is needed, as Glock has just launched factory 15-round mags for the G43X and G48. Oh yeah, and for the G44 too, but increasing your plinkerโs capacity isnโt quite as exciting.
To squeeze the extra rounds in the Slimline models, Glock had to ditch the polymer sleeve that their mags typically feature, now sporting bodies made entirely of metal. That said, the new mags also feature a redesigned magazine catch recess that still works with original, standard mag catches.
Existing G43X, G48 and G44 owners will need to purchase the new 15-round mags separately, but the good news for future buyers of those models is that they will now ship with the 15-round mags standard. Theyโre not available yet at the time of this writing, but some online retailers have the Slimline magazines available to pre-order for around $30 a pop.
These ainโt your kidโs BB guns. Theyโre powerful enough to take deer. Here we explore the rising trend of air rifle hunting.
I was first introduced to modern-day PCP (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) air rifles a bit over a decade ago by a good friend who built custom air rifles. My buddy had been shooting and hunting with PCP air rifles for several years and had taken many exotics and wild boar in Texas, usually shooting .45-caliber round balls. Years before he began making custom rifles, he had hunted with airguns from some of the early custom big-bore air-rifle makers, such as the well-known custom builder Dennis Quackenbush.
I was fortunate to have an experienced air rifle expert introduce me to these powerful sporting arms. Iโll never forget the first conversation we had. I was interviewing him over the phone for an article I was writing, and our visit went something like this: โLuke, you need to come out and let me show you one of my .45-caliber PCP rifles. You might even want to sit in a blind late in the afternoon and try it out on one of the big boars we have roaming the ranch.โ
At the time, I knew these custom air rifles had plenty of power, but enough to kill a boar? I was a bit dubious! I was also full of questions: How do you pressurize the rifle? How many shots do you get per charge? And how effective would it be on game? With his invitation in hand, I was all in from the get-go. Iโve always enjoyed learning about new ways to pursue my lifelong passion for hunting. I had learned to shoot and hunt with everything from a longbow to a flintlock in past years and was excited to experience the power of air compressed to 3,000 psi.
The next morning found myself at my new friendโs ranch, watching him attach a hose to the fitting on the air chamber of his rifle and crack the valve on an air tank. I watched the gauge slowly climb to 3,000 psi. He explained that the charge would deliver five hard shots. We stepped behind his shop to the range. From a solid rest, I fired a 50-yard three-shot group that almost touched, then watched it slowly drop on the target as the air chamber lost pressure. My learning curve with modern air rifles had begun.
Like most kids back in the day, I had cut my shooting teeth on BB guns first, and when I graduated to a .177-caliber pump air rifle, I thought I was really in the big leagues as a hunter. But with these first few shots from a PCP air rifle, I knew I was shooting a powerful weapon. The rifleโs report wasnโt quite as I had expected. The release of 3,000 psi of pressure pushing a 350-grain chunk of lead down the barrel is anything but quiet!
My education in contemporary air rifles continued while attending an outdoor sports show in Waco, Texas. My friend introduced me to John McCaslin, owner of Airforce Airguns, a Fort Worth-based company that had a powerful .22 air rifle on the market named the Condor. McCaslin had an indoor range set up and invited me to shoot his rifle, which looked to me like something out of a Star Wars episode. The tank was actually the rifleโs stock. I could easily see it was well-constructed, and when I nestled the stock against my shoulder, it fit comfortably.
Space was limited inside the building, and the target was set only about 25 feet from the bench. After the first two shots, I thought I had completely missed the target. There was only one hole, and it was not โragged.โ This little rifle was a shooter, and I added it to my must-have list. Back then, there was no air-rifle squirrel-hunting season in Texas, but I knew one was being discussed. The Condor was also available in .25 caliber, which would be deadly on squirrels and rabbits, and possibly foxes and coyotes, at relatively close range.
John invited me to tour his facility, see how the air rifles are made, and spend some time shooting at the range. I was impressed by the rifleโs performance indoors at the sports show, but after shooting at 40 yards on the outdoor range, I was all in. I left the factory with a brand-new Condor, and my love of shooting PCP air rifles was in full bloom. There was some talk about Airforce Airguns releasing the first production big-bore air rifle at the time. I remember thinking that I was experiencing the very beginnings of something big.
I was not wrong. Soon, the company introduced the Texan, a .45-caliber PCP air rifle with pressures topping 3,000 psi and enough power to kill deer-sized game cleanly. I was fortunate to test one of the first 10 Texans. At the time, air rifle hunting was not allowed for deer in Texas, but I put a lot of fresh pork in the freezer with my Texan and even managed to shoot an aoudad, surely a first with an air rifle.
Texas first amended its game laws in 2018 to allow air rifle hunting for squirrels and, later, for big game such as deer, javelina, and turkey. Lawmakers from across the country were learning that todayโs big-bore air rifles provide an ethical means of harvesting game. Back in 2008, Missouri was the first state to allow big game to be taken with air rifles, and, through the years, many other states have come on board with regulations allowing game to be taken with them.
The list continues to grow each year as more lawmakers are introduced to the power of air. Each state has adopted its own regulations for the taking of game with both lead slugs and air-powered arrows. (Itโs essential to study regulations regarding caliber and air pressure before choosing a rifle for hunting.)
Todayโs big-bore air rifles are not only fun to shoot but accurate and powerful enough for deer-sized game.
Getting Started
When I was introduced to PCP air rifles, I was full of questions and rightfully so. I knew very little about them other than the fact that they pressured up to what I thought was an astounding levelโ3,000 psi at the time was the standard maximum fill. But how were the rifles pressurized? What was the maximum distance I could expect them to produce enough energy to kill the game I wished to hunt cleanly? In the 12 or so years I have been shooting and hunting with them, Iโve learned a great deal.
As hunting editor for Airgun Hobbyist, the only national publication devoted to airguns in the country, Iโve been exposed to most of the major brands, both small caliber and the big bores. As a general rule, PCP air rifles are not available at the big box stores, but several companies offer online shopping and quick shipping. For many years, I have ordered all my airgun supplies from Pyramyd Air, an Ohio-based company I consider a one-stop shop for airgunners. With a map that is kept current on each stateโs airgun regulations, a ballistic calculator, and a wealth of other helpful information, the Pyramyd Air website (pyramydair.com) is an excellent source for airgunners.
The result of a successful air rifle hunt near the Brazo River in Texas.
Charging
There are three ways to pressurize PCP airguns: an air tank, a compressor, or a hand pump. Unless you have plenty of time and the desire for a workout that makes Marine Corps boot camp seem like childโs play, I strongly suggest against using the hand pump unless you are young, strong, and wish to get stronger! Many airgunners still use carbon-fiber air tanks, but even with one, a compressor is needed, and it takes a good while to charge a tank with a portable compressor.
A decade ago, compressors were rather costly, and many air rifle shooters went to paintball ranges, local fire departments, and similar places to pressurize their tanks. I remember driving 15 miles to a paintball range to pressurize the one tank I owned. Today, there are plenty of economically priced compressors on the market. I stopped using air tanks several years ago and opted for a portable compressor that runs on both AC and DC. When shooting at a range without electricity, I simply run the compressor off my truck battery or bring a fully charged battery. When hunting, I charge the rifle before the hunt. I seldom need more than two shots on a deer, hog, or exotic game. After a shot or two on a morning hunt, I plug in my compressor back at camp during midday and recharge the rifle before the afternoon hunt.
Small air tanks are available and can be carried in a day pack on a hunt, but I donโt see the need to pack the extra weight. All the big-bore air rifles I hunt with are capable of two or three strong shots on a full charge, and I donโt see the need for more.
Before hunting with a new big bore, I like to measure the drop in pressure with the first four shots. With a charge of 4,000 to 4,500 psi, the bullet drop on the first three shots is minimal; the third shot is always powerful enough to serve as a โfinishingโ shot on wounded game, but it usually drops 2 to 3 inches. Almost all production big bores today fire that third shot as hard, or harder, as air rifles from a decade or so ago, which were pressured to 3,000 psi.
But looking back through my many years of hunting, how often have I needed a third shot? I donโt recall a single time. Having three or four powerful shots is not only handy for hunting but also when testing for group sizes at the range. It would be a bit inconvenient if the rifleโs air chamber had to be recharged after each shot.
The โBig Gunsโ
Seneca Dragon Claw II
The author shoots his .50-caliber Seneca Dragon Claw, a conventional-looking big bore that is not only economically priced but versatile, as it takes both slugs and air bolts. He has used this rifle to harvest many wild hogs. While not the most powerful big bore on the market, the Dragon Claw has plenty of power to harvest deer-sized game to 50 yards. Cape buffalo have been killed with โThe Claw,โ shooting air bolts tipped with broadheads.
The Seneca Dragon Claw II .50-caliber air rifle is one of the best values on the market. It is an improved version of the original Dragon Claw, which has been around for about 15 years and is available in both standard wood-stock and tactical models. I own both and absolutely love shooting and hunting with them. With a 3,000-psi, 500cc fill pressure in the dual air cylinders, the Dragon Claw air rifle is not the most powerful big-bore on the market, but it packs plenty of power to harvest deer-sized game cleanly. Iโve killed a truckload of wild hogs and exotics with my โClawsโ through the years.
As a rule, the trigger pull is a bit heavier than most shooters are accustomed to, but once you learn the pressure to apply, itโs not at all unmanageable. I often put six or more shots in a 2-inch group at 50 yards at the range without having to recharge. From the beginning, the Dragon Claw has been a 3,000-psi rifle, and it remains so even in a market where most big bores are pressurized to over 4,000 psi. The trend today is more pressure, but, in truth, air rifles filled to 3,000 psi have accounted for a significant number of exotics and wild hogs long before many of the states made air rifle hunting legal.
I absolutely love stalking close to wild hogs at night with an air rifle topped with a thermal scope, and the Dragon Claw II is a solid, economical rifle for hunters who keep their shots on game relatively close, inside 50 yards. The Dragon Claw II is a dual-purpose rifle: it shoots both slugs and air bolts. Whether you wish to go after your game with a big, 336-grain chunk of lead or an air bolt tipped with a sharp broadhead, the Dragon Claw II deserves a spot in every airgunnerโs gun cabinet.
Tex Rex
This past season, I did a good bit of hunting with the .51-caliber Tex Rex by Airforce Airguns. I found the rifle to be solidly built, just like its predecessor, the Texan model, and very accurate. The carbine model I chose is also very maneuverable when hunting from a blind or stalking game in heavy cover. Shooting the 388-grain hollow-points by Nielsen Specialty Ammo (available through Pyramyd Air, pyramydair.com), this big .51-caliber is high on the list of production big bores that pack a punch big enough to harvest the biggest of North American game cleanly.
I hunt wild hogs a lot here in Texas, where I live, and usually shoot them in the neck, aiming just behind the jaw. I hit a solid 225-pound boar through the front shoulder, and the bullet penetrated the thick protective shield, went through the shoulder blade and lodged just under the skin on the off side. While bench testing, the Tex Rex consistently delivered four to five shots that produced 730 ft-lb of energy with the big bullets. The Tex Rex is not the cheapest big bore on the market, but hands down, itโs worth every penny.
The Airforce Airguns line is built to last a lifetime. I still hunt with one of the first .457-caliber Texans the company produced a decade ago, and have taken everything from aoudad to turkeys with it.
Umarex Primal 20
Dusty Vickrey, manager of the Choctaw Hunting Lodge in Oklahoma (owned by the Choctaw Nation), with an oryx taken with his Umarex 20-gauge Primal 20 rifle with a 395-grain sabot slug.
The Primal 20 uses a special 20-gauge slug fitted with a plastic โwadโ that seals the barrel. Both the slug and the invector choke installed in the barrel are rifled to ensure excellent accuracy. A 395-grain slug leaving the muzzle at 700 fps generates 430 ft-lbs of energy. The two-shot Primal 20 features a 24-cubic-inch onboard air tank that can be pressurized to 4,000 psi. Filling this tank is easy with the end-mounted Foster Quick disconnect fitting.
Fully ambidextrous, the Primal 20 is an absolute breeze to set up for shooters of either handedness. In an industry first, it offers shooters a true drop safety in addition to the push-through manual safety. I was introduced to the Primal 20 at the Choctaw Hunting Lodge in southeast Oklahoma while hunting with my friend Larry Weishuhn. Larry and lodge manager Dusty Vickrey were on a quest to harvest a broken-horned oryx, a big African antelope weighing about 350 pounds. The bull was running with a herd of about 10 trophy bulls and females, which made the hunt challenging. This was Dustyโs first hunt with an air rifle, and he was unsure of just how much stopping power the big slug would have when pushed with the power of compressed air rather than powder.
Shooting a particular animal out of a herd can be challenging. Each time the targeted bull gave Dusty a clear shot, another oryx was standing directly behind. Finally, the bull broke clear of the herd for an instant, and Dusty eased back on the trigger. The shot was perfect, and Dusty had his first animal on the ground, thanks to his new Primal 20 and the power of 4,000 psi of compressed air.
Air Rifles for Hunting Small Game
The Umarex Komplete is new on the market and is charged with nitrogen canisters that screw into the valve system, just below the barrel and become part of the forestock. Iโve been hunting squirrels with one of these innovative new rifles for several months and found them to be not only accurate but also pack plenty of punch for cleanly taking small game. The Komplete is excellent for both experienced PCP shooters and newcomers alike. Since the power comes from pre-charged nitrogen canisters, there is no need to spend several hundred dollars on a compressor or large air tank; the compressed nitrogen canisters supply the power, and you can expect upwards of 40 shots per canister.
Air rifles chambered in .177, .22, or .25 caliber are ideal for hunting small game such as rabbits and squirrels. There are many fine small-caliber rifles on the market, and Iโve hunted with a good number of them. Air Venturi offers the Avenger in small-bore calibers up to .25 caliber, making it an economically priced rifle for small game or target shooting. Airforce Airguns offers the Condor and TalonSS, both well-built, accurate rifles of the same quality that have earned the company its reputation. The Umarex Komplete is a relatively new small-bore that is pressurized by small nitrogen bottles. Iโve found these little rifles to be highly accurate and a good choice for beginner airgunners without a compressor. Each nitrogen bottle provides about 45 regulated shots, more than enough for a morning squirrel or rabbit hunt.
The Air Venturi OmniStorm is a break-barrel air rifle available in .177 or .22 caliber. It is a power-adjustable single-shot. Thanks to its OmniPiston gas piston powerplant, you can quickly adjust the pressure within the piston to change the power and cocking effort. This is done with the included OmniTuner pump, allowing kids to use the same rifle as their parents with a simple adjustment. Additionally, the OmniPiston is a set-it-and-forget-it system, meaning once you have the gun performing the way you want, it will remain at that setting.
When it comes to adjustment, the OmniPiston powerplant operates from approximately 205 to around 550 psi. Cocking effort increases with pressure, ranging from 25 lbs. on the low end to about 50 lbs. As pressure and cocking effort are increased, so is the velocity and power capability of the rifle. In .177 caliber, 7-grain lead pellets reach speeds between 500 and 1,100 fps, while 11.9-grain .22-cal. lead pellets travel between 500 and 850 fps. The rifle is built around an all-weather synthetic stock and boasts a pair of adjustable fiber-optic sights and an 11mm dovetail rail for the included 4×32 scope. A two-stage trigger and a 19-inch rifled barrel help land accurate shots while an automatic safety prevents unintended discharges. This gas piston rifle is excellent for hunting small game, pest control, teaching beginner fundamentals, or serving as a survival rifle with its own power source.
Biggest Boar with the Umarex Hammer
Some folks are devout deer hunters; othersโ dreams are dominated by trophy-class elk. I have, for many years, been โeaten upโ with hog hunting. I hunt hogs with big-bore air rifles and absolutely love stalking them up close at night, using my ATN thermal scope to make a good, close shot. I live in the center of some of the best hog hunting in Texas, here in Kaufman County.
On one such hunt, I was leaving a corn feeder I had been hunting at since about 10 pm, when nary a porker had shown up. I drove out of the ranch near my home, stopped at the gate, and glassed a 50-acre wheat field. There, near the middle of the open field, I spotted a boar that I had seen once before during daylight while still-hunting along a thick creekbed during the summer. This was hands down the most enormous boar I have encountered while hunting, weighing close to 300 pounds, which, regardless of what you might have read, is extremely rare in truly wild hogs. The monster boar was throwing dirt 10 feet in the air with his snout as he rooted up the field. I had already seen the destruction he was causing to the field; thatโs why I stopped to scan it with thermal.
When I spotted the boar, adrenaline surged, and I forgot I was armed with an air rifle that would give me only one shot at the very close range I hoped to make. There was a stiff north wind blowing, and I eased within 75 yards, downwind. I wanted to drop this big hog in its tracks and planned to shoot it in the center of the neck, just behind the jaw. I closed the distance to 50 yards, and then 35, and the boar never knew I was in the world. I sat down on the ground, set up my shooting sticks, centered the ATN Thor LTV on the hogโs neck, and began the trigger pull. He must have heard me over the strong wind, but I doubt he smelled me.
A millisecond before I got the slack out of the .50-caliber Umarex Hammer, the hog moved a few inches, and the shot centered his left shoulder and angled toward the middle of his body. No doubt the protective shield was at least an inch thick. I watched the bullet kick up dirt on the other side of the boar; the shot had probably taken out one lung. There I sat in the middle of the field, 35 yards from the most enormous boar Iโd ever seen in the wild, with no tree to climb or way to escape a charge. Luckily, he ran for the nearby fenceline and, to my dismay, crossed over to property that was strictly off limits.
A couple of days later, I watched a flock of buzzards landing in a dead tree near where the boar went down. I desperately wanted the big boar for photographs, but that was not in the cards.
Had the big chunk of lead hit the center of the boarโs neck, you would be looking at a photograph of a giant boar and one very โpumpedโ old hog hunter rather than the video. Itโs a good reminder that while todayโs air rifles are more powerful and capable than ever before, they also provide a new challenge to hunters who want to expand their skills and get close.
Todayโs air rifles pack plenty of punch to down the biggest boar in the woods.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Springfield Armory has just announced the Saint Victor PDW, a compact 9mm AR with a 5.5-inch barrel.
The concept of a personal defense weapon, or PDW, originates with militaries looking to arm second-line troops with something small, handy, and easier to shoot than a traditional handgun. Springfieldโs new take on the concept is the Saint Victor PDW, and it looks like it will be able to fill its namesake role very well.
Chambered for 9mm, the Saint Victor PDW features a 5.5-inch barrel, a retractable SB Tactical HBPDW pistol brace and a simple but reliable direct-blowback action. It feeds from Colt-pattern magazines and has a standard capacity of 32 rounds.
For mounting accessories, the Saint Victor PDW has a full-length top Picatinny rail for optics, an aluminum free-float M-LOK handguard and a 1/2×28 threaded muzzle. It comes with a hand stop pre-installed on the handguard and an SA Muzzle Drum blast diverter on the barrel, but that could be replaced with a suppressor as long as it has a diameter small enough to fit inside the handguard. Other features of the PDW include an ambidextrous 45-degree short-throw safety, a B5 Systems Type 23 P-Grip, a nickel boron coated flat trigger and a Tungsten Gray finish.
MSRP for the Saint Victor PDW is $1,400 and each gun ships with one magazine and a soft case.
Guns evolve, and here we look at how the saddle carbines of yesteryear have morphed into the brush guns and truck guns of today.
One of the many things we really enjoy doing in our industry is finding excuses to put together new guns for ourselves. Every so often, an existing category pops up with new bells and whistles. Itโs usually a little bit wild, and people often take an interest.
Just 10 years ago, the pistols that were commonly available with red-dot optics, lights and built-in compensators were considered exotic, with the concept being dubbed the โRoland Specialโ after a popular fictional character. Today, those setups are everywhere, and nobody bats an eye.
Another popular class of arms that has grown in the past few years is the โtruck gun,โ a concept that started with the uniquely American โbrush gun,โ itself a very wide category.
So, letโs look at brush guns and their derivatives, as well as a common set of myths regarding the category and theory of use.
Brush Gun Origins
Brush guns have something of an interesting history. Based on the research I have committed to this topic, itโs very regional and somewhat culturally diverse. Truck guns, what you could call a modern derivative of the brush gun, occupy effectively the same space that this particular class of arms has for centuries. Effectively, all of these owe their heritage to saddle carbines.
The common theme for all of these is the fact that they are shoulder-fired rifles designed to be compact for mounted use and offer benefits over a handgun for dismounted use.
If you look back into our history, one of the most common elements of the armed American is our habit of moving around with our weapons. America has a very unique relationship with transit and the ideas surrounding it. Something about it calls to our deeper selves, and there is a romance about it. However, that romance is also rooted in inherent risk: Taking the wrong one can often have unknown dangers.
It is the general unknown of the road that leads us to this fear of the unknown. You read the news saying to yourself, โMaybe they wouldnโt have gone missing if they had a gun.โ
The roots of American culture are forever founded in frontier expansion. As a people, itโs who we are. And due to the vast nature of our country, weโve always had a relationship with horses, trains and innovations that necessitated arms that fit our lifestyles โฆ which has continued into the modern era.
The formative brush guns of the 1800s came about as repeating rifles, typically lever actions. These were saddle guns that were fast to deploy and often shared ammunition with a sidearm. This base concept of a fast moving, lightweight, repeating rifle is something that has continued to carry over for us. At the time, however, this was people using the best technology they had; they werenโt coming up with guns with the idea that it would be talked about for 150 years.
A custom Henry in .45 Colt, a short-range rifle for sure, but a great option if youโre looking for something quiet. Axe by Wolf Valley Forge, knife by Architect Knives.
Now, there are a variety of things that should be addressed regarding this topic because our modern brush guns are often considered to be โbig bores.โ However, back when this technology was first emerging, there wasnโt a great deal of what we would consider to be small-bore center-fire rifles available, and once there was, bore sizes did shrink quite a bit. The .45-70, while always remaining steady, was not until somewhat recently considered to be an ideal brush gun caliber.
Rounds like .30-30 Winchester and other bottlenecked, high-velocity (for the time) cartridges were definitely preferred for heavy cover. Even back in the old days, people liked to have flat trajectories โฆ and that hasnโt changed until recently as we look back, instead of forward, for inspiration.
Whether or not itโs apparent, the brush gun concept is severely outdated, and, today, the utility isnโt backed by any sort of fact other than nostalgia being a valid reason to have fun.
The Evolutionary Tree of Handy Rifles
In general, the distinctive brush gun that we know today is generally considered to be a medium range, big-bore repeating rifle. Truck guns, what you would likely consider the next evolution of โcompact American transportation weapon,โ is a more linear transition from the original saddle carbine intent. The original brush guns were high tech for their time; the Winchester repeater was state-of-the-art during its day.
Today, truck guns represent that same spirit, usually in the form of SBR-style centerfire rifles with detachable magazines. Most typically, these are chambered in 5.56 NATO, .300 Blackout or 7.62x39mm. Itโs less common to find larger rounds, like .308 Win. or 6.5 Creedmoor, in truck guns.
Brush guns have taken on a much more uniform set of features lately. These being lever-action rifles with short barrels, typically in .30-30 Win., .45-70 Govt., .360 Buckhammer, .44 Rem. Mag. and .357 Mag., with the latter being less ideal given a dramatically reduced effective range. There are people, including myself, who argue these are marketing parameters the industry seems set on promoting rather than a distinct subgroup.
Who would win: .45-70 or a small branch? Donโt underestimate a twigโs ability to cost you a trophy buck because you thought it could make it through.
Branding and repeated tropes are being used to define this category, but since there is no strict definition, I want to examine what counts and what doesnโt. Lever guns have become very popular in the last few years, but I remain on the fence about their realistic utility compared to other options.
Brush guns are generally considered to be of big bore and short range, but whatโs considered โshort range,โ and why do they need to have a big bore? What does big bore even mean?
Thirty-caliber isnโt, by common consensus, considered a big bore, yet the .30-30 Winchester is a common option for โbrush busting.โ Do they need to be intentionally handicapped in power and capacity to fit this definition, or does an M14 count? And, does it need to be a lever action? Lever actions arenโt superior to bolt guns or semi-autos. In fact, Iโd argue they are severely inferior by a wide margin on virtually all criteria. Accuracy, capacity, reliability, reloading speed and ease of carrying ammunition are all against them.
Now, factor in that none of these common brush gun chamberings are as effective as .308 Win. or .30-06 at any barrel length. Well, you see where Iโm going with this.
So, then, what is considered โmedium range?โ On man-sized targets, and weโre assuming up to deer-sized game, the effective range of a .30-30 is arguably better than larger bores. Again, .30-30 was very advanced for its day. You can take shots past 300 yards, but itโs more about the setup of the gun than the potential accuracy of the cartridge.
Rounds like .450 Bushmaster and most straight-walled cartridges are usually 200-ish-yard propositions due to their steep bullet drop. Most of these rounds are fine at modest hunting distances, but rounds like .357 Mag. and .44 Mag. are going to struggle past 100 yards. The closer the better for these guys.
The .450 Bushmaster, something of a Cooper brainchild in that it adheres to his somewhat iffy โThumperโ concept, is a very common short to medium range hunting cartridge. The author has dropped countless deer with it. His advice: Get close and stay out of the close cover. The .450 is easily deflected.
Taking our M14 and adding a red-dot optic on a scout rail, weโre effective from zero to 800 yards easily, even more with a magnified optic. Plus, itโs more powerful than most โbrushโ chamberings with less recoil and greater magazine capacity.
So, if thatโs the case, is a traditional brush gun an intentionally bad idea or just dated? I think that there is a missing link in the brush/truck gun narrative โฆ and that is the scout rifle. It has the DNA weโre looking for, but it doesnโt fit neatly into either other category. However, it delivers the best of all worldsโshort, light, fast and powerful with good magazine capacity.
A visual comparison of loading speed and capacity. On the left, an M14 magazine with 20 roundsโself-contained and changed in one set of steps. On the right, we have a five-round AICS magazine common in many scout riflesโagain, a quick and compact means of reloading quickly. Compare this to six rounds of .360 Buckhammer for lever guns. It takes as long to load one round of this into a lever gun as a whole mag change for these other magazinesโsomething to consider. Highland Hatchet by Winkler Knives.
Jeff Cooperโs scout rifle was designed as a set of parameters to create a fantastic all-purpose rifle that could be used for survival, fighting or hunting. While he had his own definitions, the scout concept has evolved since Cooper has gone. Today, it encompasses a variety of rifles in full-power calibers, such as .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor, that offer superior ballistic performance to most anything youโre going to find in traditional lever-action chambers.
Unlike truck guns or brush guns, the scout concept was heavily defined and narrow in scope, but many common brush guns have borrowed scout features due to their effectiveness. Iโd say that the brush gun concept is only relevant today because of the known relevance of the scout rifle concept and how those two have intermingled.
Light, fast bolt actions are a great option across the board for truck, brush and scout rifles. Here is a Faxon FX7 build in a KRG chassis.
Beating the Brush
Brush gun lore has led to something akin to survivorship bias. Back in the old days, people just used what they had. Sporting rifles from generations back typically consisted of lever-action platforms because thatโs simply what was available and what people thought they needed at the time. Because we live in a time where weโre actively resurrecting models of old guns and revisiting these concepts in an attempt to modernize them, we simply cannot break away from what is believed to be historical precedent.
The modern lever action, as the base of the brush gun category, is an anachronism. There have been better options for generations, yet people continue to buy marketed brush guns because they are led to believe that they are better in the brush. Again, there is absolutely no factual basis for this whatsoever.
While this might surprise you, brush guns are not better in the brush. Larger bullets do not deflect through foliage or brush any better than smaller bores. In general, in my own testing, I have discovered just the opposite. The takeaway that I have is that there is no such thing as a gun that is good in the brush. There is also no such thing as thick or thin foliage; itโs all foliage and will cause bullets to deflect.
Now, if you want to get into the weeds on this topic, even grass and leaves can divert a bulletโs trajectory. There was a good amount of discussion on this topic, although itโs somewhat dated now, that took place during the Vietnam era. There were attempts to create projectiles that did better through foliage, but the short version of this story is that shotguns with nail-like flechettes tended to do well at close range. Thereโs no real conclusive evidence Iโve seen that says the military ever arrived at a conclusion for rifles and machine guns.
The M193 cartridge does indeed perform poorly in very thick vegetationโthis much is true from the issues had by soldiers using it in the jungle. The jury, however, is out on if the larger 7.62mm rounds did any better or worse.
Bullet shape has as much to do with it being โbetterโ in the brush as mass and speed. Unsurprisingly, bullets with narrow meplat diameters do better.
One of the conclusions that I have come to is that velocity and bullet shape matter quite a bit, with mass playing a secondary role. Bullets moving at speeds over 2,500 fps and of .30-caliber tend to be the best. The 175-grain .308 Winchester is, in my experience, the most effective at avoiding significant deflection in brush; the 6.5 Creedmoor and .30-06 are also quite good.
The best brush busters are modern, high(er) velocity bottlenecked cartridges. The 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win, .30-06, and .300 Win Mag are extremely good in a bad situation. Knife by Winkler Knives.
Testing handgun cartridges in brush is again sort of pointless. I will say that there arenโt many, if any, good ones. Velocity is not on the side of any handgun cartridge.
Pistol rounds, even out of rifles, arenโt very good at getting through brush.
No Right Answers
Because our country is so vast, every region is going to have a firearm solution that makes the best sense for them. Here in Michigan, Iโm limited to straight-wall cases for most of my fieldwork, and these cartridges are at a pretty severe disadvantage against bottlenecked cases. What you keep handy should fit what adventures you plan on having โฆ and what dangers may be waiting for you.
Either way, the brush gun, truck gun and scout rifle all have unique ties to our culture, and there are happy mediums across all categories. The silver lining is that you can define what you need, be it in your saddle scabbard or the backseat of your F-150.
The Authorโs Top Brush Guns
As you mightโve gleaned from this article, Iโm a big fan of maximizing potential. My number one brush gun would be an M14-type rifle with a forward scout rail. You can whip up your own or get a version of this from places like Fulton Armory or Springfield Armory. In my testing, the .308 Win. showed to be one of the better options working in cover. The rifle itself is lightweight and fast handling, can be loaded by stripper clips from the top if necessary โฆ and has very little recoil.
Rugerโs Scout rifle series, including their newest generation, offers a wide range of handy features, reliable feeding and a large number of chamberings. Their original Scouts are still highly desirable and offer virtually all the features important to Cooper. Marlin, now under Ruger, offers a wide range of lever-action rifles suitable as brush guns, scout rifles and truck guns.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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