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Gun Digest April 2023 (Digital)

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16 Articles

2 min.

LOAD YOUR BRAIN

This issue marks Gun Digest’s annual nod to anything and everything related to defending your home. From incredibly innovative solutions for hiding and securing your firearms throughout your home, to expert tips for setting up your handgun (or shotgun or rifle) for home defense, this issue has something for everyone. But my favorite article in this issue comes in the form of a bonus chapter from Massad Ayoob’s recently revised book, Deadly Force: Understand Your Right to Self Defense. From time to time, I’ll pull top-notch bonus chapters from Gun Digest’s extensive book library as an added value to magazine readers … simply as a means of saying “thank you” for being a steadfast member of the Gun Digest family. Authored by Ayoob (who obviously needs no introduction as a timeless subject…

2 min.

.30 SUPER CARRY

HISTORICAL NOTES In January 2022, Federal Premium announced its .30 Super Carry (.30 SC) cartridge, which Federal said provides the power of the 9mm Luger with a .312-inch-diameter projectile. The goal was to create a cartridge that carries like a .380 and hits like a 9mm. The .30 SC was fully developed from the ground up with no parent cartridge. “The self-defense market is a driving force behind new gun ownership. When considering what the market is looking for when it comes to selfdefense, they have told us that concealability, comfort in carrying and ability to shoot, 9mm performance and the ability to carry more rounds” are the most important factors, said Federal’s Handgun Ammunition Product Director Mike Holm. “That is what drove the development of .30 Super Carry.” “We were trying to…

5 min.

THE STEADFAST SERVICE PISTOL

The carry of a concealed handgun for personal protection is now legal in more jurisdictions, and it’s more popular than it’s ever been. The most popular handgun for concealed carry is the ultra-compact 9mm. However, the 1911 pistol—a design that’s now 112 years old—is more popular than it has ever been. Everybody is making and selling them as fast as they can. In just the past few years, Tisas USA has imported several thousand 1911s from Turkey, and they’ve sold them all. Finks Custom Guns, which also serves as the gunsmithy at Gunsite Academy, was so impressed with the Tisas 1911s that they’ve created a standard custom offering based on the Tisas 1911 A1 Government Model that they’re calling the Finks Service Pistol. FOREVER CLOSE BY Before I delve into the particulars of…

5 min.

FREE PASS

What would a “get out of jail free” card be worth to you, the armed citizen who carries a gun for self-defense? A card that, once played, either the prosecutor would drop all charges or the jury would acquit. That would be a pretty powerful card. If I could actually invent such a card and market it successfully, I’d be a rich man—such a card would be priceless under the correct circumstances. But, alas, that’s not possible. There is, however, a close second: The knowledge that an armed citizen can use to educate the prosecutor or jury that your actions were reasonable under the circumstances, and that your use of force against another person or persons is excused by the law. Consider the following quote from Washington State Supreme Court, State v.…

3 min.

SUPERPOWER: ENHANCED HEARING

My friend, Mas Ayoob, a long time ago, strongly suggested your home defense equipment list should include electronic hearing. He offered two reasons: protection for your own hearing and enhanced capability. Protection should be obvious. But what about the enhancement? As an example, I was at Bill Wilson’s ranch, hunting hogs, when we were sneaking through the woods to get a better shooting position, and the leaves crunching underfoot were loud. I thought to myself I must be getting old, I used to be able to ghost through the woods. Then, I realized I had my electronic muffs on. I stopped and slipped one off an ear and kept going. Yep, I was quiet … quieter than Bill was (the hogs didn’t notice, and the stalk was successful). Another reason? Bluetooth. If you…

6 min.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

“I can’t find primers.” “I can’t get the powder I need.” “There are no bullets available for my gun.” Over the past three years, I've heard these statements—or something very similar—more times than I can count. It has been so difficult in some instances that several folks I know have given up on reloading altogether. We’re still facing a component crunch—although the supplies of factory ammunition seem to be slightly more plentiful—and reloaders certainly aren’t happy about this fact. Handloading has long been a solid means of fueling those firearms chambered for the oddballs, or has served as a means of making high-volume shooting much more affordable. Those facts might have changed over the past couple of years, with the cost of reloading components radically increasing (if you can get them at all). When the…

4 min.

TODAY’S TOP RANGE BAGS

01 Tactical Tailor Competition Shooter’s Bag The Tactical Tailor makes high-end, pressure-tested gear, so if you demand a lot of your gear, this is the range bag for you. The duffel-style bag has a 22x9x8-inch main compartment, with two 8x8x2.5-inch top compartments, along with a side flap pouch and internal dividers and additional storage pockets for everything. The generous storage space can fit gun, ammo and a competition rig as well as ear and eye pro easily. MSRP: $285.50 02 5.11 Range Ready Trainer Bag The 5.11 Range Trainer Bag is a large duffel for competition, training or longer-lasting range sessions with generous storage. The bag has three side compartments and external Molle, webbing as well as internal organization for magazines and a removable internal divider. It has both carry straps as well as…

4 min.

GEAR TO GET

01 Remington Golden Saber 10mm Overpowering nearly any other commercially popular pistol cartridge, the 10mm gives those who can wield it effectively a definitive edge. Unveiling a 180-grain Golden Saber option in the hard-hitting pistol cartridge, the self-defense “Perfect 10” just got a little more perfect. Loaded with Remington’s famous bonded-core bullet, the ammunition offers a hollow-point option that not only expands like the dickens but also retains a majority of its weight at the target. This means larger and deeper wound cavities that increase the odds of neutralizing a threat. Additionally, the loads are fairly balanced for maximum terminal effect and shooter controllability, with a muzzle velocity of 1,150 fps. MSRP: $48, box of 20 02 Meopta MeoSight IV Improving accuracy, target acquisition and follow-up shot speed, the simple aiming solution of a…

8 min.

GRASSHOPPER MOUSE

Let’s start with a general discussion on what constitutes a “large format” pistol. In the most basic sense, the definition of a large format handgun (LFH) boils down to any gun that’s not a revolver, or a traditionally laid-out pistol that features a magazine inside the grip. LFHs are something along the lines of AR or AK pistols and various guns that are laid out with the magazine ahead of the grip. These usually are neutered SMG designs, much like what’s featured in this article with the B&T GHM9. Of course, there are many types of variations on this theme. The basic nature of “large” designs is open-ended. Further on in this article, we’re going to take a look at the legal challenges facing these types of guns, as well as how…

9 min.

GUN STORAGE IN THE MODERN HOME

Growing up as a kid in western Kansas, nearly every friend’s house had a gun cabinet in the entryway or living room—some locked, most not. Those cabinets were meant for easy access to firearms by people who used them all the time, chasing game birds from gobblers to quail, putting venison in the freezer each winter and keeping coyotes from slaughtering calves and chickens. Fast-forward a quarter-century, and the world is a different place. Word is that even the town I claim as home isn’t quite the same. What was a sleepy agricultural burg with a single factory cranking out shingles has grown with the addition of more manufacturing, more people and more crime. While the classic gun cabinet might not be the best choice these days for quick access to a…

10 min.

PL AY TO WIN

There’s a prevailing mindset in the defensive instructor community to bring what they’ve learned in military and police settings into the civilian self-defense sphere. After participating in many of these classes and observing still more, I’ve found that the wide bulk of these skills are not only unnecessary, but also impractical—and occasionally dangerous—for people who don’t have the world’s largest military complex … or an entire department to back them up. What follows here is not necessarily a critical assessment of self-defense instructors, but rather an evaluation on a topic in which technology is rapidly outpacing the base skills needed to succeed in a life-and-death situation. A MASTER’S DEGREE IN ARMED DEFENSE At a recent media event, I was talking with industry colleagues about AR rifles. I brought a couple: one a Brownells…

9 min.

SCATTERGUN SECURITY

First, why a shotgun? Simple: horsepower. You can argue about the relative effectiveness of a .223 Rem. versus a fill-in-the-blank all day long, but a payload of buckshot pretty much trumps them all. You do have to take the recoil, but that’s the price you pay for performance. But, which one? Well, you have two choices: pump or auto. I know there are those who will advocate a double-barrel shotgun. “Ease and simplicity of use,” they’ll argue. “No malfunctions,” they’ll propose. And my favorite (which is nonsense): “Two barrels of intimidation.” If you think you can depend solely on intimidation, you’re kidding yourself. You, your attitude and approach are the intimidation—not the firearm. So, pump or auto? The choice depends partly on cost—and which is a better fit for you. A pump will be…

8 min.

TURKEY TAMES THE 10MM

The 10mm automatic (auto) pistol cartridge has always had a special allure to those looking to deliver as much power on target as possible … from a concealable pistol. It’s also considered one of the best handgun hunting cartridges suitable for a conventionally sized auto-pistol. And the cartridge is indeed powerful: It can generate muzzle velocities exceeding 1,700 fps, with muzzle energies as high as 800 foot-pounds. Of course, as Newton told us, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When put into language the average hillbilly can understand, it means 10mm handguns have a lot of recoil. In fact, with the hottest loads, they’ll recoil with more than twice the force of a 9mm and as much as 30 percent harder than a .45 auto with +P…

9 min.

THE REX DELTAMGEN2 TACTICAL

While the Glock 19 might rule as one of the most popular midsize compact pistols on the market for self-defense, there are often pretenders to that throne. Most of these designs fall by the wayside or develop niche followers, but every now and then one company keeps improving on their designs and genuinely offers an improved product. One of those companies: Arex Defense of Slovenia, with their Rex Delta M Gen 2 Tactical. ABOUT AREX Five years ago, I was invited to Slovenia as part of a press junket to see a new firearm about to be released by Arex Defense. The trip included a factory tour and a range day to promote the Rex Delta, a polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm handgun, roughly the size of a Glock 19 and called the Rex Delta. While…

24 min.

DEBUNNING NYTHS OF ARMED SELF-DEFENSE

In April 2014, the expert testimony of my friend and colleague Bob Smith in Spokane helped win an acquittal for Gail Gerlach, who was charged with manslaughter. Gerlach had shot a man who, while stealing his car, had pointed a metallic object at him that appeared to be a gun, and Gerlach had fired one shot, killing the man, who turned out to have been holding shiny keys in the dimly lit vehicle. In the antigun Spokane newspaper, internet comments indicated that many people had the clueless idea that Gerlach had shot the man—in the back—to stop the thief from stealing his car. One idiot wrote in defense of doing such, “That ‘inert property’ as you call it represents a significant part of a man’s life. Stealing it is the…

2 min.

RIA 5.0 PISTOL

Rock Island Armory has been known for its imported handguns, but that’s about to change. At SHOT Show 2023, the company announced its first entirely American-made firearm, the RIA 5.0. It’s a full-size 9mm pistol that combines a few interesting elements from other handgun designs into a single pistol. Made at Rock Island’s brand-new facility in Cedar City, Utah, the most promising feature of the RIA 5.0 is its soft recoil impulse, achieved through a combination of a few different design choices. Firstly, the pistol features what RIA is calling its patented RVS Recoil System, helping to reduce recoil by maximizing barrel mass and linear movement. Additionally, the slide rides inside the frame—much like on a CZ-75—lowering the bore axis and reducing muzzle flip. Finally, the frame is made from aluminum rather…

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