Table of contents for December/January 2021-22 in Handguns

Nothing Not to Like Just read the article on the S&W Shield Plus. After months of trying, I finally got my hands on a Performance Center Shield Plus and ran 100 rounds through it. If you like the Shield Plus, wait until you shoot the PC. There is nothing not to like about this firearm. Ron Benjamin, Pennsylvania We have it on good authority there’s a new version of the Plus that should be out by the time you read this. 3D Bobcat Solution Terry Mocny’s letter in the August/September issue on the lack of a magazine base pad on the Bobcat, and the issues it causes, struck a chord. I’m new to 3D printing, but decided to give it a try and see if I could make one for…

AS A DEFENSIVE HANDGUNNER, YOU NEED to plan for contingencies like your pistol malfunctioning at the worst possible moment. Although your gun suddenly becoming inoperable in an armed encounter is indeed a dire situation, if you’ve done your homework, there’s no need to panic. Mastering these malfunction clearing techniques will have your gun back to slinging lead in no time. Notice the use of the word “mastering.” These techniques aren’t something to “sort of know” or be “pretty good at.” Malfunction-clearing techniques need to be trained to the point that they’re so automatic you can execute them flawlessly, without thought, so you can focus solely on stopping the person trying to kill you. There are several commonly taught malfunction-clearing techniques. These two are what I find make the most sense.…

I’m not really a car guy. Sure, I like to have a vehicle that’s reasonably nice and has some amenities, but I don’t get overly excited about what I drive. While a new German-engineered luxury car may be “better” than my Ford pickup, the Ford gets the job done at a price I can afford. Conversely, I’m more interested in guns than most people. I place significant importance on having a gun that’s not only safe and reliable (like my Ford) but also has many of the bells and whistles that make it a little easier to carry and shoot. And like a car guy, I’m willing to pay more for what I want. But many view the purchase of a defensive pistol the way I view buying a vehicle.…

THERE’S FIERCE COMPETITION AMONG today’s ammunition manufacturers to produce the best defensive handgun loads. Federal’s handgun ammunition is among the most advanced, and bullets like its Hydra-Shok and HST consistently perform well in FBI protocol testing. As a result, Federal has been awarded contracts with law enforcement agencies, and many concealed-carry permit holders rely on the consistent performance of these bullets for personal defense. What modern handgun enthusiasts may not know, however, is that the concept of “defensive handgun ammunition” is a relatively new concept. In the mid-20th century, when Federal first began producing handgun ammunition, many law enforcement officers carried sidearms loaded with soft lead bullets. Barrier penetration and ballistic gel tests were rarely performed. It was generally accepted that any bullet with sufficient energy would stop an attacker.…

WHEN IT COMES TO COLLECTOR FIREarms, quantity and quality mean a great deal. Some handguns made in huge quantities are immensely popular with collectors. A few real rarities are less popular. The Colt Peacekeeper is among these. A play on the famous Peacemaker name, the Peacekeeper is a variant of the Colt Trooper and Colt MK V. There’s some conflicting information on the gun’s origins. Some point to the 1987 Colt workers’ strike as the birth of the Peace-keeper. Experienced polishers and refinishers were not available, so Colt turned to the matte-finished Peacekeeper. The other theory is that Colt could not compete with Smith & Wesson and Ruger on price, and it offered these revolvers as budget guns. Either theory makes sense, and each is possibly true. Regardless, the budget-grade…

THE 9MM LUGER WAS BEING ABANDONED in the 1980s and ’90s by law enforcement agencies in favor of more potent rounds like the .40 S&W, but today the pendulum has swung and virtually every agency in the country relies once again on 9mm sidearms. Clearly, the cartridge itself didn’t change, so what happened? In short, bullets have improved significantly, and today’s 9mm projectiles are more effective and efficient at stopping a threat than those available four decades ago. Modern bullets are better engineered and more thoroughly evaluated and are therefore much more effective. But there’s still room for improvement in the development of personal defense pistol bullets. Take, for instance, the Norma Monolithic Hollow Point bullet, or MHP. As the name implies, it’s a monolithic bullet, which isn’t anything new,…

It seems as if every firearm manufacturer builds its own version of the Colt 1911 handgun. Unlike some designs, the nuances of the 1911 can make it tricky to get right. Experience matters. Some have been at it longer than others, and one of the most seasoned companies in this space is Geneseo, Illinois-based Springfield Armory. Not only has the company been producing quality 1911-pattern handguns for decades, but it also continues to push the envelope with new designs. The most recent example is the Emissary, a full-size, fully featured and attractive handgun that blends classic and modern design and style elements. The features that set the Emissary apart from the competition are both aesthetic and functional. For decades, custom shaping a 1911’s lines had to be performed either by…

If you’ve been around the action pistol shooting sports for any length of time, you know CZ is one of the leading production makers of competition guns. If you doubt that, a look at the 2020 U.S. Practical Shooters Association nationals (the most recent data available) will show you what I’m talking about. CZ pistols were chosen by nearly half of the competitors shooting Production division, where the double-action/single-action Shadow series is and has been a top pick. No other maker came close. A third of the shooters in the Carry Optics division opted for a CZ, edged out only slightly by SIG. CZ was right up there in Limited/Limited-10 as well, and that’s where the new CZ Tactical Sport 2 comes in. A quick recap of this USPSA division…

THE MODERN BUCKMARK MADE ITS debut in 1985, and the current line has around 40 different “standard” models plus 18 “limited” guns with upgrades such as a muzzle brake or advanced sights. The gun shown above, the Browning Buckmark Plus Vision UFX Black/Gold suppressor-ready model ($720), is one of the latter. Like all guns in the Buckmark line, it is blow-back in operation, light and trim. Overall quality of the gun with regard to fit and finish is first class. While the gun feels like a trusted 1911, in the hand it points like a vintage Luger. This model has a target-style barrel with a target crown and hand-reamed chamber. The steel barrel gets a gold Cerakote treatment and is just a hair short of a full six inches (actually…

SHOOTING PLATE RACKS IS A LOT OF FUN, AND IT’S ALSO GREAT training, but not everyone has access to a facility that offers a rack. Well, if you’ve got a place where you can set one up, Revolution Targets by Pendleton ( REVOLU TIONTARGETS.COM ) has an answer for you with its six-inch portable plate rack. I’ve been using this rack for more than a year, and it’s terrific. It is the handgun model ($940), which is constructed of quarter-inch AR500 steel; there are also rimfire ($900), rifle ($1,020) and magnum rifle ($1,125) versions. The rack comes in two parts: the rack and the stand. This makes it convenient for both transport and storage. The rack is four feet long, and the stand is 32x28 inches, including the legs. Simply…

KIMBER R7 MAKO Kimber gets into the micro/high-cap pistol game. Available in either an optics-ready model or a model with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500 red dot installed, the R7 Mako holds 13+1 with its extended magazine and 11+1 with the flush-fit mag. Weight without a magazine is just under 20 ounces. With its 3.37-inch barrel overall length is 6.2 inches. It has an FNC-finished stainless steel slide and glass-filled nylon frame. The trigger is Kimber’s Performance Carry, and cowitness-height sights are TruGlo Tritium Pro night sights with an orange front ring and white rear dots. {$599, $799 (red dot installed); KIMBERAMERICA.COM } ALPS OUTDOORZ GHOST 30 EDC Off-body carry, while not ideal in everyone’s eyes, is increasingly common, and the new pack from Alps is a low-key model made of…

The SIG Sauer P365 was a trendsetter, ushering in the era of the “micro-compact” pistol—super-small semiautos with capacities rivaling those of larger carry guns. And because SIG knows a good thing when it sees it, the company was quick to capitalize on the P365’s quick success by trotting out new versions. The newest is the P365 XL Spectre. It’s an evolutionary gun, adopting the frame size and barrel length of the P365 XL as well as the optics-ready slide found on both the P365 XL and P365 X. But with the Spectre version you get additional upgrades, similar to what the firm did with its Legion series of guns. Two of these upgrades jump right out at you. First is the finish, which SIG calls “distressed.” You’d be forgiven if…

The engineers at KelTec have an uncanny knack of offering outside-the-box gun designs. From the PMR30 pistol to the KSG dual-tube bullpup shotgun, this is a brand that continuously provides shooters with something unique and fun to shoot. Take the company’s latest creation: the P50 pistol. It’s a blowback-operated semiauto chambered in 5.7x28 that holds an impressive 50 rounds in the magazine. The magazine design itself is not entirely new—it’s the same used in FN’s P90 submachine gun that first appeared over 30 years ago—but virtually everything else about this gun is original to KelTec. Unlike the FN, the KelTec P50 positions the magazine under the barrel and springs and above the firing controls. To load the gun or access the magazine, press down on a release lever at the…

I’LL ADMIT I HAD RESERVATIONS BEFORE testing the Glock G44. I’ve evaluated other semiauto rimfire pistols designed to be doppelgängers of a brand’s center-fire offerings. Makers typically lighten the slide, often via alloy, to produce a low-cost blowback-operated pistol—often with the result that the guns looked similar but didn’t offer the same reliability. Since the G44 is nearly indistinguishable from the G19, I wondered if that’s what Glock had done. It had not. The Austrian brand was late to the rimfire party, but it spent that time doing its homework. The slide is not alloy. The base and rails are made of steel while the top portion of the slide is polymer. The slide design makes this gun light and—spoiler alert—it is well balanced and functions with a wide range…