Table of contents for March/April 2019 #41 in Recoil

Hollywood has depicted some interesting races over the years. Gumball Rally, Cannonball Run, Rat Race, and Speed Zone were about as close as most of us could probably get to living out our automotive fantasies on public roads. But what if someone actually took an idea like that and made an event out of it? Although it’s really fodder for its own cinematic homage, the Gambler 500 is exactly that. We’re not talking the usual “who can make it to the finish line first” type deal. It’s all about fun on four wheels, friendship, and Oregon sightseeing with a lynchpin that involves some rather whimsical and resourceful innovation with cars that probably didn’t have much of a future. Google some of the images of this event and you might think it’s…

Elsewhere in this issue, you can see the second installment of “Exigent Circumstances” — a short fiction concept we first ran way back in Issue 32. When fleshing out the universe around Hampton-Crane International, our faux private military contracting firm, we realized that even a fictional corporate army would still need a standard-issue rifle. As a team, the RECOIL staff has decades of military and security experience between them. This author holds the dubious honor of logging 13 separate deployments to Afghanistan as a nonfictional government security contractor. Part of the lure of fiction is that it allows us to live out an idealized or optimized version of our own life experiences. In this vein, we sat down at the builder’s bench with one question on our minds: If our…

Believe the hype. This is the first truly innovative pistol design in over 30 years, with the potential to advance the evolution of handguns as we know them. Mighty big talk for a one-eyed fat man? Not when you can back it up. This isn’t the first firearm Jan Lucansky, founder of Laugo Arms, has designed. After serving as a volunteer for the Croat HVO militia in the Bosnian conflict, he returned to his native Slovakia with a desire to make a submachine gun. So he did. That gun caught the attention of Czech manufacturer, CZ, who bought the rights to it and placed it into their catalog as the Scorpion — the rest, as they say, is history. The first 10,000 or so guns left the factory with the…

Little is a relative term. In relation to centerfire, rifle-caliber guns, the Nosler Custom Handgun makes it possible to take a long shot with a little gun. Designed for handgun hunting, the NCH is in a class of its own, as a rifle-caliber, bolt-action pistol. Two decades ago, Remington retired its version of a similar hunting handgun, the XP-100. So, the NCH is currently the only hunting handgun platform of its kind that’s available direct from a manufacturer. At first glance, the NCH is confusing. It’s even more perplexing when you have one in hand, because you immediately realize it’s nothing like a pistol and vaguely resembles a rifle. But it serves a niche market of hunters who like to be challenged by medium to long-range shots with a rifle-caliber…

It’s been more than eight years since U.S. military members began running around the world with the SCAR Mk20 SSR. And now you can get your grubbies on a damn-near 1:1 clone in the form of the SCAR 20S. For a long time now, we’ve seen the Mk20 pop up at trade shows with the promise of eventually being able to buy it. As it turned out, a semi-auto M249 hit the market first (not that we’re complaining about that). While the 7.62N SCAR-H is basically a Lane Bryant version of the 5.56 SCAR-L, the same isn’t the case with the 20S; there’s far more going on than simply a longer barrel and receiver. The longer trunnion, which FN calls the “wheelbase,” makes for a very rigid barrel configuration. Removing…

There are few pursuits in life more costly than boat ownership and equestrian competition of any sort. Somehow, precision rifle competition feels like it’s a not-so-distant third place in that ranking of activities. It’s not uncommon to see Precision Rifle Series competitors pulling $5,000 worth of gun and glass from hard cases and shooting $250 worth of ammo during a match weekend. Add travel costs, a weather meter, ballistic computer, shooting bags, ear pro, and on and on. All that, and we haven’t even covered the cost of practicing with your 6.5 Costmoor. Much like gas prices, ammo is a futures market. Climate change, natural disasters, military contracts, and White House press conferences can influence the price per round just as much as the price per gallon. And once it…

When given the choice, we’ll pick a big blade over a little one most of the time. But some circumstances call for a small edged tool. Shorter knives weigh less, are easier to conceal, and take up less pocket real estate. Plus, with less materials needed, they’re generally cheaper than their bigger brothers. And, unfortunately, myopic politicians in certain regions have outlawed blades of medium to large sizes. Because they fear (or envy?) longer lengths, these mouth-breathers in power have neutered knives in their jurisdictions. While the exact maximum length varies from nanny state to nanny state, we’re zeroing in on blades that max out at about 2.5 inches. After all, even if you live in a free state, you could find yourself vacationing in or going on work trips…

We travel nearly an hour across dry, dusty back roads in rural Idaho. Eventually we pull to a stop outside of a regular-looking steel building on a small family farm. There’s nothing exceptional going on — at least not until you step inside. This is the Maxim Defense MukWerx facility, and its remoteness ensures no one will inadvertently come across what they’ve been working up. Inside, more than a dozen 3D printers are churning and buzzing away on new parts and prototypes. The old mixes with the new; a weathered manual mill up front, with a CNC machine in the next room. A box of potatoes and another of onions in front of a large rapid prototyping machine belies the rural origins. This is where Maxim Defense made their transition…

For me, the 2018 Tactical Games in Fayetteville, North Carolina, did a lot to validate my training, as a prior service member, law enforcement, and contractor. But some context would be helpful here — like what are the Tactical Games? The Tactical Games, in the most simple terms, merges a CrossFit-style competition and a two-gun competition (rifle and pistol). It’s the brainchild of Tim Burke, a career Special Forces soldier and all-around amazing guy. The games, put on in partnership with Brownells, are comprised of a series of events held over the course of two days, designed to push you physically and mentally — all the while requiring a high degree of accuracy with respect to shooting. Simple on its face, right? Wrong … The two ends of the spectrum…

During a family viewing of the Discovery Channel show Forged in Fire, Bill Geissele’s son, Abraham, expressed interest in bladesmithing. Geissele, being a supportive father figure and successful entrepreneur, decided to create a knife company for his sons. Abraham and Moses Survival Equipment is named after his boys Abraham, 12, and Moses, 5. The venture allows Geissele and his sons a different kind of aesthetic freedom. “Knives allowed us to be more artistic and creative than gun stuff,” says Geissele. The family’s passion for the outdoors through hunting and backwoods adventures carries over to their hard-use, high-quality knives. Geissele and Abraham take great pride in their products. “The knives are really going to be used, and they will help people out of a tough spot,” says Abraham. A&M already has…

Looking across the broad spectrum of rifle cartridges that grace gun store shelves these days, it’s hard to fathom the need for another. Yet, to the keen eye, there are performance gaps among the neatly stacked boxes, unobvious to most of us, that beg to be filled. The 300 Winchester Magnum is perhaps the most beloved hunting rifle cartridge in America. It’s also the current choice among military snipers. Its popularity is based on its ability to shoot flat, reach far, and hit hard. It’s not without faults, though. And, when Hornady Manufacturing’s ballisticians took a close look at the 300 WinMag and its .30-caliber magnum shelf mates, it saw an opportunity to combine the best features of the lot into a single, modern cartridge and chamber design that was…

If you like your SureFire, you can keep your SureFire — at least that’s what the employees of the Fountain Valley, California, company tell us. Fresh in the booth at SHOT Show 2019 will be a brand-new 9mm silencer from SureFire. The aptly named Ryder 9-Ti2 is the next step for this popular pistol can. While it seems the pistol suppressor world is currently circling their wagons around modular 45ACP models, SureFire isn’t going down that road. It’s not hard to see why the industry has been hot to trot for 45ACP silencers; when they’re designed well they can be used on nearly every lower caliber. Gone are the days where a 40-caliber silencer is on many company SKUs. With that said, there are benefits to a suppressor specifically made…

S&W SHIELD Artist: Jason Weiss Ink Monkey Roseburg, OR Scott Couch: My carry gun is a S&W Shield in .40. The banner is “Don’t Tread On Me,” honoring my love for the 2nd Amendment. My wife thought of it all as a birthday gift to me a few years back. Image 1 REVOLVER Artist: Kat Fullerton 9Mag Chicago, IL John Giamarusti Jr.: This was my first tattoo in memoriam to my deceased father, who was a Chicago police sergeant and on the force for 27 years. Image 2 RIFLE Artist: Steve Gibson Outlaw Custom Tattoo Prattville, AL Stetson Parker: My tattoo is clearly an M4 rifle, and the reason I got it is because I’m currently serving in the Air Force as a Security Forces member. The tattoo is symbolic…

My driver moves slowly through the blasted empty streets of Sirte, Libya. Here, in this once prosperous coast town, home to Gaddafi and now ISIS, it’s difficult to tell friend from foe. Bullet-pocked and bomb-shattered buildings seem empty. Clusters of fighters in plain-clothes wave while armored bulldozers roar by. As we creep toward the ocean, as far as the walls of shipping containers and earthen berms allow us, a familiar crack of a Dragunov bullet splits the air. My driver stops dead in the middle of an exposed intersection, somehow wondering if it was friend or foe. Fighters under cover wave us to get the hell out of the street. When we get behind their RPG-blasted wall, one of the fighters wants to know if I can fix him up…

Just a few years ago, SIG SAUER was barely a blip on anyone’s radar. To say SIG has become a worldwide leader in firearms would be an accurate statement, but few know that was their intent all along. SIG’s 19th century original motivations to be in the military arena came full circle in 2017 when they won the contract to replace the U.S. Army’s service pistol. This historic win was the result of multiple variables that fell into place at the right time. SIG’s company history isn’t a fairytale. But so far, the story has turned out to surpass everyone’s expectations, except maybe SIG SAUER’s CEO, Ron Cohen, who probably knew this would all work out just how he envisioned. “To me, this field is first and foremost about military…

“The plan is sh*t, Joe. Plain and simple.” Mason clamped his cigar between his teeth and flipped through the pages and print photos laid out on the table between them. Joe Yates leaned forward in his chair, his own cigar perched between two fingers. “The fewer boots on the ground, the quieter we can keep this.” Mason rubbed his temples with his hands. Joe leaned forward in his chair and tapped one of the imagery photos on the table. “I’m a lot of things, Mason. But I’m not wrong.” Joe Yates was a lot of things. A veteran of Army Special Forces. Mason Becker’s personal mentor from the time Mason left the military for bigger paychecks and lower grooming standards at Hampton-Crane International Services. The Senior Vice President of Hampton-Crane’s…

Getting paid to shoot is one of those jobs that many would love to have, but only a rarified few get to actually experience. The sheer amount of will and determination it takes to put in the countless hours of practice, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and competition entry fees is enough to dissuade most. But for those who make it, the world of competition can be lucrative. Since the age of 6, Daniel Horner has studied the craft of firearms, traveling on an endless journey from student to master. From backyard squirrel hunting, to amateur matches, to the elite six-member Army Marksmanship Unit Action Team, where he racked up win after win in national-level multigun matches, Horner is just now starting to hit his stride. At only…

You may have some nagging injuries, or maybe you just put on some extra weight over the years that your primary physician is telling you to lose. Either way, it sounds like you may need some help in the health and fitness department. It actually takes some courage and confidence to admit you need help, so congratulations on making the choice to hire a personal trainer. When it comes to your exercise routine, you can go it alone or you can hire someone who knows how to get you to your goal. But you don’t want just anyone taking your health and wellbeing into their hands, do you? Let’s discuss what you need to be aware of before you make that next step of hiring a coach or personal trainer…