Combat Handguns July - August 2023

Welcome to the July/August issue of Combat Handguns—America’s definitive handgun magazine for over 40 years. In this issue, we give you a glimpse into some of the latest and greatest handguns on the firearms scene, and boy are there some good ones! Our cover guns prove that point right off the bat. Take the Dan Wesson DWX, for example. Sure, it’s a sexy pistol but it’s also a very accurate shooter as you’ll see from our report beginning on page 28. Just for kicks, we put it in the hands of some “Backyard Dads,” and that’s when the fun really began. Our other cover pistol, the new Canik Mete MC9, deserves equal attention. Following the huge success of the Mete line, this is Canik’s first foray into the micro compact…

As I approach four-and-a-half decades as an expert witness in weapons and shooting cases, I still trust and greatly respect juries. But I also know they must be carefully selected. The general public the jury pool—has been brain washed by TV, movies, and politicians and activists who deplore self-defense and have to be open to being educated on the facts. “Jury selection” is really “jury de-selection.” Each side gets to toss X number of potential jurors with a peremptory exclusion—meaning they don’t need a particular reason—and an unlimited number “for cause,” which must be clearly articulated to the trial judge. When that’s not done, things go badly. INCREDULOUS CONVICTIONS In Case One, a young black man had to kill a thug who vastly outweighed him and violently attacked him for…

I have written this column for quite some time and with each professional shooter I always find myself presently surprised by some random fact I never knew. For example, it isn’t common that a person would find their way into competition shooting via the video game, Call of Duty, but with Jessica Hook, that is exactly how her career began. Hook was working as a video game artist on Call of Duty when her interest was piqued in marksmanship. Learning about firearms through her work, co-workers and military advisors, her curiosity about shooting began to grow. She asked some co-workers to take her to the range so she could see for herself what the fuss was all about. Hook states that it was a “demystifying experience” that left her wanting…

One of the hottest trends this past couple of years has been the run of the micro-compact pistol. An evolutionary leap from the old-school, single-stack compacts of the past, the new breed offers a bigger payload while still staying slim and trim for easy concealed carry. Just about all the major manufacturers have jumped into the game with their iterations, and now it’s Canik’s turn on deck. I think they have another winner on their hands. METE MC9 With the number of micro-compact articles I’ve done lately, I sometimes found myself being a little repetitive with descriptions and specifications. I guess that can’t be helped because the facts are what they are. While the MC9 has a lot of the same features as other micro compact pistols already on the…

This strange, totally rebuilt Colt Pre-Woodsman was discovered by pistolsmith Wayne Novak around 1990 and was sent to me to study. I contacted my friends at Colt Archives for help, and two days later I learned that this Colt, No. 915, was one of 50 shipped to the London Armory Company in England in 1916. However, I got nowhere for weeks until I contacted well-known Colt collector Bob Rayburn where I learned that the London Armory reworked Colts and other guns for wealthy collectors. SPECIAL MODS It appeared that number 915 was selected as the basis for a highly customized .22-caliber competition pistol with modifications to nearly every component as can be seen but are too many to list here. Some tapered steel dowels were left protruding to easily remove…

Austrian manufacturer Glock is known for many things; however, innovation is not one of them. It stands steadfast by its “perfection” tagline and seldom thinks outside of the box. While I don’t officially know the company’s attitude toward radical product changes, I’m sure it’s something to the tune of “let the aftermarket folks handle it.” To that end, several companies began making accessories for the beloved pistol, and some even built complete clones to the specs that the American user has been demanding. Live Free Armory is one of those companies, and at the 2022 NSSF SHOT Show, I came face to face with its “aluminum Glock,” which would come to be known as its AMP, or Aluminum Match-Grade Pistol. PERFECT THIS! Calling it an aluminum Glock really doesn’t do…