Table of contents for May - June 2017 in Combat Handguns

A myriad of 911 calls swamped Arizona’s highway patrol dispatchers on an early morning this past January, including reports of a rollover wreck, a man with a gun and a man holding an injured woman. All of the calls came in around 4:20 a.m. on January 12 from Interstate 10, just outside Tonopah and about 50 miles west of Phoenix. State Trooper Edward Andersson rushed to help a man and a woman near an upended vehicle, said Colonel Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. But the man inexplicably drew a 9mm handgun and shot the trooper, a 27-year veteran, in the upper right shoulder, Milstead said at a press conference. A “Good Samaritan” later told investigators that he saw the man “straddling the trooper,” beating him.…

In mid-November of 2016 in Lee County, Florida, a man led a sheriff’s deputy on a chase at speeds exceeding 100 miles an hour. At the end of the pursuit, the driver dismounted and attacked the deputy. He had the lawman down and was beating him savagely when a passerby with a concealed-carry permit rushed to his aid. The situation degraded further, and the good Samaritan was forced to shoot and kill the offender. At his request, the name of the rescuer has not been released to the public as of this writing. Far from getting into trouble with the law over it, the armed citizen was hailed by the sheriff for his courage, and for saving the life of his deputy. A local gun shop provided a brand-new Springfield…

It’s safe to say, since you picked up this issue of Combat Handguns, that you hold strong the creed, or fundamental set of beliefs, that all people have the unalienable right to self-defense given to them by their Creator, and that right is codified as sacrosanct in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Arms of all types were considered by the founders of the country best held in the hands of its citizens as a means of defense against both a predatory government and the lone cutthroat. We humans use tools; we’re not equipped with naturally powerful weapons like claws, tusks or venom. Nor do we have camouflage to hide or the ability to fly to escape danger. To defend ourselves, a tool acts as a force multiplier—it makes…

Two .380 ACP pocket pistols with 21st century features duke it out RUGER LCP II CALIBER .380 ACP BARREL 2.75 inches OA LENGTH 5.17 inches WEIGHT 10.6 ounces (empty) GRIP Glass-filled nylon SIGHTS Fixed ACTION SA FINISH Matte black CAPACITY 6+1 MSRP $349 One of the most prolific and innovative firearms designers of the 20th century, John Moses Browning brought a host of inventions that revolutionized the firearms industry. His designs were so pivotal that many are still in use today. His biggest contribution to the industry was the development of semiautomatic and fully automatic firearms, bringing to market the Browning Auto matic Rifle (BAR), the .50-caliber Browning machine gun, the Browning Hi-Power, the Browning Auto-5 shotgun and the highly celebrated Model 1911. His influence extends beyond these legendary arms,…

Ergo has long been known as a premier manufacturer of ergonomic grips for the AR and other rifles as well as rail covers. But now the company has applied its skills towards improving the grip on small J-Frame revolvers. The J-Frame is arguably the single most popular revolver for concealed carry with rocksolid reliability and convenience, but the grip angle has never been ideal. Fortunately, changing the grips on your revolver is easy. The new Ergo Delta Grip is dimensionally the same size as standard compact grips but takes a decidedly different approach. The 45-degree angle grip accomplishes several goals, the first of which is filling the hand with a textured rubber grip with finger grooves that at first seem odd but actually prove very comfortable and improve the user’s…

Everything manmade will fail. I don’t care how expensive or well maintained your car, your watch or your gun is—eventually, it will fail. There are several common types of weapons malfunctions, and you need to know how to quickly clear them to get back in the fight. Over 90 percent of pistol malfunctions are magazine related. The most common malfunction? A magazine that is not fully seated. Every time you load your pistol, you should rack the slide to put a round in the chamber, then eject the magazine and top it off. If the gun holds 10 rounds in the magazine, why would you walk around with only nine rounds in it? The problem is that it is more difficult to seat a fully loaded magazine. The round on…

HUNTING HOGS: We learn from a correspondent in France that wild pigs have become a serious agricultural problem there, as they have been in Germany for some time, and now increasingly so in Australia. Hunting the “wild boar” is a fine pastime and should be encouraged widely. French farmers do not seem to like this idea, however, and now maintain that the wild hog should be exterminated. The people who condemn hunting frequently have to face this. They would rather there were no wild animals than that anyone should enjoy hunting them. ON THE 5.56: In our year-end sea stories we heard a remark from an old line infantryman from Vietnam who, when he was introduced to the M16 rifle, opined, “I ain’t got time for ’em to bleed to…

BILL WILSON may have retired from running the daily operations at the company he founded in 1977, but there’s no doubt that he continues to help drive Wilson Combat’s research and development with several new firearms released in just the last year. The EDC X9 is unquestionably the most ambitious of the lot because it offers a fresh design that significantly departs from the 1911s that Wilson Combat and other competitive manufacturers now produce. The EDC X9 project started in March 2015 and culminated in early 2017 after three working prototypes were made and thousands of rounds were sent downrange by multiple shooters. And the resulting pistol embodies Bill Wilson’s approach to gun-making, which attends to all the large and small details—both functional and aesthetic— needed to produce a memorable…

MY FAVORITE HANDGUNS are chambered for the .45 ACP. I like using that round in 1911s, polymer-framed pistols and everything in between. I know there are faster choices. I know there are more powerful choices. But I like the .45 ACP. I also absolutely love to hunt. I hunt just about anything and everything I can, mostly in my home state of Virginia. I like to hunt with a rifle and a bow. I tend to do more bowhunting these days and enjoy the challenge of getting as close as I can, and then one more yard, before I shoot. This philosophy would serve me well after I decided to learn to hunt whitetails with .45 ACP pistols. BASIC BALLISTICS Within a nanosecond of this idea, I did a reality…

There’s an old Shaker axiom that says, “Let it be plain and simple, of good and substantial quality, unembellished by any superfluities which add nothing to its goodness or durability.” This is something I keep in mind when I set up a weapon. A few months ago, I took a hard look at what I was carrying to deal with an active killer. Such attacks are now our present truth, and we need to recognize that the war is no longer over there—now it’s over here. I took a hard look at the fact that rifles, and even conventional submachine guns, just weren’t as concealable as I’d like. Even if you get into the really small SMGs, you’re still talking about considerable size, weight and cost. I also wanted this…

WHEN YOU’RE A FATHER, you relish the proud moments that come with that title. You watch your kids graduate elementary school, learn to ride a bike and excel in sports. I’ve been fortunate to enjoy many of those occasions. However, one of my most cherished memories will be my son’s graduation from my alma mater and his trouncing of the old hands on the pistol range. When Sabastian (or “Bat” as we like to call him) was 13, I sent him to Gunsite for a three-day rifle and pistol tutorial. I’d worked with him extensively on marksmanship basics and firearms safety. However, there comes a time when teaching is best administered by an outside source. The dynamic relationship between parents and children, and even between parents, often gets in the…

If John Moses Browning was to return to this earthly plane, I believe he would be totally flummoxed when he saw what has happened to his most famous design, the 1911 pistol. While many of its more ardent fans believe the 1911 pistol was the “perfect” fighting handgun as originally designed, since its introduction gunsmiths (of varying degrees of skill and enthusiasm) and handgun manufacturers have been striving to make it more reliable, accurate, ergonomic, user friendly and attractive. And none of these have been more successful at this task than STI of Georgetown, Texas. STI offers one of the most complete lines of 1911 pistols on the market today. A perusal of the company’s website will show the prospective customer pistols suitable for military/police service, concealed carry, home/business defense…

A woman in Wilmington, North Carolina, was beaten and bound during a home invasion this past January, but she turned the tables on her attacker, who wound up dead. Police said Willie Franklin Stith, III, who had an extensive criminal record, was fatally shot on January 2, 2017, at an apartment complex in the 5000 block of Hunt Club Road. According to a news release, “The victim told police that while she was returning home from work around 11 p.m. last night that Stith forced her into her home at gunpoint, beat her and tied her up.” But the woman managed to undo the restraints and grab her own pistol, police said. “Once the victim was free, she reached for her gun and shot him once. When police arrived, they…

MANY FRIENDS AND EVEN ACQUAINTANCES enjoy giving their two cents to any new shooter interested in purchasing her first pistol. Most have very strong opinions that consist of the words “never” and “always.” When I began shooting, I learned with a Smith & Wesson M&P9. It had no manual safety, a polymer frame and about a 5.5-pound trigger pull. When I helped teach classes, students would sometimes show up with the infamous Model 1911. I’ll admit, at first I looked at the 1911 like a frog looking at a wristwatch. Why would anyone want to shoot that? It’s so heavy, and how can you be sure to always engage the safety? What’s so good about a gun that originated in the late 1890s? To help get a better understanding of…

THE M&P SERIES is the flagship of Smith & Wesson’s handgun line, with models in four sizes (long-slide, fullsized, compact, subcompact) and in several calibers: .22 LR, 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG and .45 ACP. The M&P pistols evolved from the Sigma series, which the company designed to compete with other polymer-framed pistols on the market. For several reasons, however, the Sigma never was a big success. In contrast, the M&P pistols are engineered differently and are essentially much better. Though both models were originally made simultaneously, the more durable and full-featured M&P prevailed while the Sigma was discontinued. Firearms equipped from the factory with threaded barrels to mount sound suppressors have become much more prevalent in recent years, and though the trend seems to have taken hold more so…

THE LAST DECADE of Colt’s history has been one of slowly regaining the place in the market that was once rightfully its own. While this may sound a bit bold, note that between the AR-15, Model 1911 and Model 1873 Single Action Army, there are very few major firearms manufacturers that do not make at least one clone of a Colt product. Several make more than one, and at least one makes all three. Colt’s resurgence has begun with the dramatically increased quality of its Model 1911 pistols and has included the increased availability of Colt AR-platform rifles. To this, add the reintroduction of a double-action revolver. The stainless steel Cobra is more than just a reinterpretation of the classic Detective Special snubnose, though. It’s an entirely new pistol with…

Shooting has always been something I did with my father. Needless to say, I was anxious when Dad said I was going to take the 250 Pistol class at Gunsite Academy. I’d always wanted to go; my mother and father have trained there numerous times. I wanted to learn how to shoot properly, and more than that I wanted to do what my parents had done. Being nervous made focusing on the first day very difficult. I shook almost the whole day. Just the fact that I was there made me nervous, not to mention being around all the good shooters in the class. I had so much to learn compared to those older shooters. By the second day, things were looking up. I’d made a friend or two, and…

ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR .22 LR autopistols ever produced was the Ruger Standard pistol that debuted in 1949. This was the gun that launched Ruger’s spectacular gun-making career. Resembling the iconic German Luger, this highly successful gun has gone through several iterations, from the Mark I to the current Mark IV. I own a handful of Mark I and II Rugers, including a highly customized version fitted with Dino Longuerio’s Speed Strip Kit. This innovative kit overcame the biggest drawback to owning Ruger .22 autopistols—it enables you to remove a single screw located handily on top of the receiver, then quickly strip out the bolt for cleaning the action and bore. Until the new Mark IV came along (which has a hinged barrel and receiver, allowing you to take…

AS WITH PREVIOUS YEARS, the 39th annual Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show was a big hit. Dozens of manufacturers came to Las Vegas to show off their new wares and provide a sneak peek to us hungry journalists. In the following pages, we’ve highlighted some of the best new guns, ammo, holsters, range goods, safes and more. Read on to find out more, and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for these new products to hit shelves soon. HANDGUNS AVIDITY ARMS PD10 Part of the Eagle Imports umbrella, Avidity Arms has introduced its first firearm, the PD10. A purpose-built, striker-fired 9mm built in America, the PD10 was designed by renowned defensive shooting instructor Rob Pincus as his answer to what he saw was lacking in the options…