Table of contents for November/December 2014 in Recoil

Budapest is considered among the most picturesque of European cities. Situated on the Danube River, the capital of Hungary is actually three cities that over time have merged together: Buda, Óbuda (Old Buda), and Pest. Overlooking this modern metropolis of 1.74-million inhabitants is Buda Castle, the historic palace complex located on Castle Hill on the Buda side of the Danube River. This World Heritage Site is also much more than just the palace. Buda Castle today actually encompasses much of the hill and is practically a city in and of itself. While the castle walls date to the 13th century, Budapest was the site of many sieges and epic battles — the most recent being the 1956 uprising against the Soviet rule. Thus much of the beauty of Budapest has…

EDITOR’S NOTE: We covered the essentials of combat tracking in RECOIL Issue 9, where instructor Freddy Osuna explained how to examine tracks in order to hunt down human prey. Combat trackers typically operate at the very tip of the spear, ahead of their supporting troops while following an elusive enemy across broken country. As such, the requirement for a lightweight, effective weapon is paramount, so when American Defense Manufacturing (ADM) announced their 6-pound carbine, we fgured we knew just the guy to try it out. A combat tracker’s primary weapon requirement is for a lightweight weapon with both the ability to quickly neutralize an immediate threat and the capability for accurate, midrange target suppression — to either kill the mutha, break contact, or lay down fre until the cavalry arrives.…

For most civilian shooters, the opportunity to shoot fully automatic frearms is as rare as it is fun. Often, when a person shoots a full-auto for the frst time, they will deplete the entire magazine in one trigger pull, then get annoyed at their idiot friend who is recording the affair on a cell phone held vertically. Dumping a mag through an AR or a sub-gun at Knob Creek is no doubt a worthwhile endeavor, but current or former military who were properly trained in the use of machineguns know that this isn’t an effective use of the frearm. When the lead is fying both ways, a standard rife magazine holding 30 rounds can be emptied plenty fast enough on semi-auto — no assistance from an auto sear is required.…

Imagine you woke up one morning and declared, “You know, what the world needs right now is a full-sized, polymer framed, striker-fred 9mm handgun — because there just aren’t too many of those around.” Until now, Diamondback Firearms has been making very small concealed carry pistols in .380 ACP and 9mm, like everyone else, and AR-15 style rifes, also like everyone else, so a “me too” double-stack seems pretty much inevitable. As a business model, this has worked for everyone from General Motors to Sony at one time or another, so we’re not going to criticize DB for following this well-trodden path — so long as the resulting product performs. Does it? Read on and fnd out. DESIGN ORIGINS Imagine if a Glock 17, a Smith & Wesson M&P, and…

BRAND: Zippo MODEL: 4-in-1 Woodsman OVERALL LENGTH: 20 inches WEIGHT: 3.8 pounds MSRP: $80 URL: www.zippo.com You’ve driven this winding road though the mountain pass a hundred times, but a downed tree a mile ahead forces you onto an old canyon logging road bereft of people, other cars, and any basic trappings of civilization. If you really didn’t need to be home in a hurry, you could have easily backtracked to the main highway 40 miles to the south. Rounding a blind corner, your truck high-centers on a large rock obscured by some brush, and you feel in the seat of your pants that distressing cacophony of shredding metal and splintering stone. Fifty feet later, you roll to a stop, as all of the lights on your dashboard blink like…

Exactly two years ago, RECOIL went through what might be euphemistically termed a rough patch. Indeed, the events of September 2012 will probably be used as a case study in sundry business schools under the heading of, “How to ruin a brand in a weekend.” We admit it — we screwed up. Since then, we’ve tried to learn from our mistakes, listen to our readers, and not take anything for granted. In the past 24 months, the RECOIL team has worked its ass off, and I’m immensely proud of the guys whose names appear on the masthead — and honored to be a small part of the world’s best gun publication. It’s been an interesting couple of trips around the sun and hugely entertaining to see the changes happening on…

In this issue of RECOIL you’re going to read a lot about vehicular necessity versus preference. The point being that none of us have unlimited budgets. In a perfect world, we’d love to outft our bug-out vehicle with every piece of kit and performance upgrade imaginable. Since that isn’t practical for all of us, we like to show you alternatives that may help spur some ideas you hadn’t considered or just plain didn’t know were possible. Some of you may even have fabrication skills to your credit. If that’s the case, you may want to resist the temptation to buy all that great aftermarket stuff, and instead fre up the acetylene torch, pretend you’re John Hannibal Smith, and customize something that’ll ft your needs and fnancial constraints. Take Tony Ashwill’s…

Ever since mankind started attacking one another with pointy objects, man has also thought of ways to defend himself. One of those ways has been the use of personal body armor — whether ancient warriors clad in boiled leather, Samurai dressed in intricate lamellar armor, or medieval knights of old with their iconic plate armor and shields. The advent of frearms and ever more powerful ballistic performance outpaced the development of technologies for protective equipment that could be deployed in a practical manner. Flak jackets (those issued in the Korean and Vietnam wars were constructed of nylon) could help stop fragments and slower or smaller-caliber bullets, but were not effective against typical frearm threats. Metal (steel) plates were required to provide more protection. The end result, not unlike an average…

Guns and rock go together like peanut butter and jelly. But guns and metal — they go together like steel and brass. Whether a Hollywood blockbuster or videos on YouTube, if there’s flm of weapons at work, it’s usually s et to massive sound — electric guitars, emphatic beats, and driven lyrics that reach right into your chest and motivate your blood pressure. It’s a rush in the form of sound, paired with the feeling we all get when turning money into smoke one skilled trigger press at a time … or a “quick, no one’s looking” bump fre (yes, we’ve all done that). Not all bands get involved in the gun industry, and fewer still seem to have the same passion about gun rights as Five Finger Death Punch.…

The 7.62x39mm cartridge was developed during World War II by the Russians, and it served as their primary rife cartridge for over three decades until the 5.45x39mm round replaced it. The sheer volume of Kalashnikov variants produced in this caliber has ensured that it remains one of the most widely used cartridges in the world. Cheap Eastern European 7.62x39mm remains more affordable than .223/5.56mm NATO, and this cost differential has certainly contributed to its success in the United States. X39 is also at times more available than .223 — following the latest round of panic buying, .223 was either ridiculously priced or simply unavailable as people snapped up everything they could fnd to feed new guns or simply to stash away. It was still possible to fnd 7.62x39mm during this…

1 No matter the decade, aviator sunglasses will be as enduring as 1911 pistols, Ford Mustangs, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s accent. Now you can rock this style of eyewear on the range knowing it’s rated for shooting. The SI Ballistic Crosshair is one of the world’s frst Mil-spec wire-frame glasses (MIL PRF 32432). It also has 100-percent UVA/UBA protection, high-defnition optics, and anti-fog coating while meeting ANSI Z87.1-2010 standards. Gray lenses available with either matte black or gunmetal frames. MAKE: Oakley MODEL: SI Ballastic Crosshair MSRP: $250 URL: www.oakley.com 2 Known for sturdy storage solutions in vehicles, Tuffy’s translated that U.S.-made quality construction to its Portable Safe. The lockable welded-steel storage box is ideal for carrying a handgun, cash, or other valuables to and from your home. It’s secured by a…

When this author was but a wee lad, his older cousin bought him his frst blade: a Swiss Army Knife. “Keep it clean or it’ll rust,” the cousin said. To a 7-year-old, that pretty much fell on deaf ears. Sure enough, it took no more than a couple of weeks for little spots of reddish orange to grow on the multitool’s blade. And so began our frst lesson in rusting and what the term “stainless steel” truly means. No, it’s not a synonym for “stain-proof.” It means that the steel will stain less than other types. In other words, it’s more corrosionresistant — thanks to high chromium content, which makes it harder to sharpen, by the way. For knife nuts, corrosion means the oxidation of iron and steel. While we…

There are generally two schools of thought when it comes to HK. Detractors feel Heckler & Koch (pronounced hek-lur and coke) frearms are unnecessarily complicated, over-engineered, and overpriced. The HK afcionados (this author included) believe HKs are German works of art with the utmost quality and engineering brought together to create their vision of perfection. After all, HK’s tagline is “In a world of compromise, some don’t.” HK’s methodology behind their frearms design is somewhat complicated and requires further explanation. Until recently, HK’s primary drive was to design and manufacture cutting-edge frearms for its military and law enforcement customers, often releasing products to the civilian market only as an afterthought. Since its inception in 1949, HK has worked closely with German police (Bundespolizei) and military (Bundeswehr) to design, develop, and…

It is 9:42 p.m., and Tim Kennedy is just wrapping up a grueling 60-minute session with an opponent inside Gracie Humaitá Austin, in Austin, Texas, after teaching a self-defense class at the school. It is the same place where he received the coveted Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt, fulflling the longstanding martial arts aspirations of an 8-yearold boy from Central California. He’s far removed from the currently drought-stricken region he once called home, and from that lanky adolescent frame as well; it’s safe to say that he has been even further removed on many other occasions. After a quick break for water, Tim recounts his former disdain for the belt, stemming solely from the charity and “sponsored” black belts other high-profle mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes have had thrown at…

You step inside your front door and then you hear something. Shuffing from upstairs. Odd, you think. No one should be here, not even you. You got home early from work, and your wife is having a girl’s night out. You don’t have kids or pets. Yet, there are distinct sounds of footsteps echoing upstairs. This can’t be good. You immediately draw your CCW pistol and work ninja-like to the stairs. With every step, your heart beats faster. Your breath quickens. Then you burst into your bedroom with the muzzle forward — all you fnd is an empty bed with lit candles and rose petals everywhere. There’s a scream, but it registers only as a loud whisper. You swing your handgun to the right. The sights fnd a target. Your…

I loved getting all the feedback from the last few articles, and one that surfaced several times had to do with improving your fring grip. So, let’s get down and dirty with a little-known secret to strengthening your grip. WHAT’S IN A HANDSHAKE? Whenever I conduct a pistol class, I take the time to shake hands with all the students, both informally and then formally on the fring line. The frst is polite custom — after all I’m a Texan. The second is actually an assessment. I front load this evolution with a brief discussion of the fring grip, but we typically get a lot of blank stares when actually talking about how to apply pressure to the frearm. You would be surprised how many folks grip with what we…

BRAVO COMPANY USA, INC. PO BOX 341, HARTLAND, WI 53029-0341 EMAIL: INFO@BRAVOCOMPANYUSA.COM PHONE: 1-877-BRAVO CO (1-877-272-8626) WWW.BRAVOCOMPANYUSA.COM ⋆ WWW.BRAVOCOMPANYMFG.COM SPONSORED BY BCM Designed by Travis Haley of Haley Strategic Partners and built by BCM, this rife includes a mid-length gas system, B5 Bravo stock, Inforce WML light, IWC Thorntail light mount, and folding front and rear sights. Features a BCMGUNFIGHTER pistol grip, charging handle, trigger guard, and compensator. Includes a certifcate for a $200 discount on training. MODEL: Haley Strategic Jack Carbine COLORS: HSP Disruptive Grey Cerakote MSRP: $2,250 Designed by Pat Rogers of EAG Tactical and built by BCM, this rife includes a midlength gas system, SureFire EAG Fury light, VTAC light mount, and TangoDown QD vertical grip, PR4 sling mount, and rail covers. Featuring a BCMGUNFIGHTER pistol grip,…