Tabla de contenidos para January/February 2021 en Combat Handguns

The world is watching as civil disturbance roils American streets with large-scale protests that often turn into looting and arson. People flash back to the indelible image of what we’ll call Case One, the savage beating of Reginald Denny. Solely because he was white, he was dragged from his truck by four raging black men in Los Angeles during the “Rodney King Riot” in 1992. His skull crushed by a cinder block, he was horribly and permanently injured, his attackers serving four years or less after their conviction. Would he have been justified in running over those men with his truck (or shooting them, had he been armed)? The law says, generally, yes…but the situation is more complicated than it looks, and we’ll come back to that shortly. Can deadly…

The story of P80, or Pistole 80, started in the not-to-distance past, around 1980. The Austrian Armed Forces were in dire need of a new sidearm. They were still using the Walther P-38, a pistol design that dated back to World War II. By 1982, some obscure plastic manufacturer in Austria was awarded a contract for 25,000 Glock 17 pistols, which the Austrian military dubbed the Pistole 80, or better known as the P80. All the storied European firearms manufacturers like H&K, FN, Sig and others were left collectively scratching their heads and asking themselves: “What just happened?” The Glock 17 is what just happened, and it totally rewrote the playbook on handgun design and manufacturing. It also made military forces, law enforcement agencies and concealed carry practitioners around the…

Most Americans know that Norma makes high-quality ammunition in Sweden. However, Norma is part of a much larger company named Ammotec, which is presently owned by Ruag in Switzerland. And, earlier this year Norma introduced an American-made, environmentally friendly ammunition called Range/Training Frangible. This product contains frangible bullets that are injection molded from a polymer/copper composite. I recently visited Ammotec’s Tampa, Florida, plant where Norma Range/Training Frangible is assembled. I also visited Modern Technical Molding and Development (MTMD/Cavaform) in nearby St. Petersburg, which manufactured the tooling for making the bullets according to Ammotec’s specifications. MTMD also maintains and operates the process that produces polymer/copper blend bullets used in this Norma product. What I learned is good news for the shooting public. BENEFITS Shooting ammo containing bullets made of a polymer/copper…

It has been said that President Donald Trump gets by on four hours of sleep each night. No one has ever said that about me. I need a solid eight hours to be at my best. So, with exactly one-third of my life being spent in bed, I needed to find a solution to keep a gun handy and ready to go when I am at my most vulnerable. N8TACTICAL MAGNA ARM GUN MOUNT MAGNET Before I get started here let me first say that I live alone. There are no children or grandchildren that have the run of my house. In fact, I can’t remember the last time a youngster was in my home. The exterminator I use has serviced my home for the last 20 years and is…

Boon is from a family who has a history of wearing the uniforms of the United States, with his father, uncles and brother serving in the U.S. Navy, Army and, as Boon, the United States Marine Corps. Sergeant Benton was a scout sniper on a Maritime Special Purpose Force that was tasked with direct-action assaults and hostage rescues, as well as serving as a Marine Corps-trained instructor in several dynamic tactical skill sets. After that, Boon served as a SWAT team member, then post-9/11, he worked as a Global Response Staff contract operator for the State Department, ultimately serving in hotspots all over the world including as part of the GRS team in Libya. He was stationed in the covert CIA annex a short distance from the basically indefensible and…

Heckler & Koch (HK) has incited both ire and amusement in equal measure within the firearms community for two of its staunch marketing slogans, each of which perfectly encapsulates the brand’s tongue-in-cheek uber-Germanic persona when addressing the consumer market: “No Compromise,” and, “Because you suck, and we hate you.” Such mantras may lead you to believe that the chances of HK making concessions or accommodations at the behest of the firearms community would be slim to none, and that requests to grant a longtime consumer desire when it comes to modifying one of its most popular and well-received pistols—the HK VP9—would fall on less-than-receptive ears at HK headquarters. GRANTING A WISH HK’s VP9, a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol that featured a newly designed striker system that gave it the feel of…

N8 TACTICAL COMBAT CUT HOLSTERS N8 Tactical’s new OT2 Combat Cut Holster for mid- to full-size pistols is a very comfortable IWB holster that merges the company’s Original Holster and Tuckable Holster into an all new platform. Clothing compatible for all-day wear, the design allows for a full grasp on the pistol’s grip while drawing. Built on a durable leather form, the OT2 Combat Cut Holster comes with a soft suede backing and a moisture-proof neoprene core situated between the two. (n8tactical.com) S&W OPTICS-READY M&P9 2.0 COMPACT The new Optics-Ready M&P9 M2.0 Compact pistol from Smith & Wesson is a 4-inch-barreled model that is an extension of the M&P line. Building on the award-winning M&P9 M2.0 Compact pistol series, the new models are chambered in 9mm and feature a slide…

The sound of laughter and camaraderie, the high-pitched beep of the timer and the satisfying pings of lead on steel. These are the notes of the melody that is played at my local range each Tuesday and Thursday as competitors gather to test their mettle against each other, the timer and themselves. I don’t get there as often as I probably should, but when I do I not only enjoy the experience of competition, I also feel like I level up my shooting skills. Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken various makes and models of pistols to these events. The pistol that I perform the best with, and that I keep coming back to, is the CZ Shadow 2. So, it’s easy for me to understand why CZ…

The Safariland Group recently announced a newly redesigned website, safariland.com. It is an easy-to-navigate site that provides users with an interactive experience, allowing them to match products with their gun and carry needs. Designed to be intuitive, the new site also provides an in-depth education center. Safariland’s Holster Education Center provides a series of relevant and easy-to-understand resources that guide the user through various considerations for selecting a holster. Holster position, retention and concealability, as well as various shooting disciplines, are all considered. Safariland’s Holster Finder takes the user through a series of visually enhanced questions to quickly assess and match their needs to Safariland products. Selection can be made by profession, carry method and firearm type. But Safariland is more than just a holster manufacturer! There’s a section in…

Language changes to reflect the culture. Whereas a spiteful woman may have been derided as a hellcat in decades past, the term is transformed in modern society to mean power and performance. Just as Dodge embraced the term for its tire-smoking 717-horsepower Challenger, so has Springfield Armory for its own supercharged micro-pistol. Few people would dare go up against a driver behind the wheel of a Hellcat. Likewise, few would knowingly challenge anyone carrying a Hellcat. In both cases, the competition is likely to get smoked. I wanted to see what the new Springfield pistol was all about. I picked up a Hellcat OSP with the FDE finish. To make it the complete high-performance package, I tested it with the new Swampfox Sentinel red-dot sight and the Covert OWB holster…

Starting my law enforcement career with a double-action revolver provided a certain appreciation for these simple machines. Serving law enforcement for well over 100 years, revolvers remain useful to this day. Both my Colt Python and Smith & Wesson Model 686 served me well. While semi-autos have come a long way since, they were anything but proven in the 1980s. Offering little outside capacity and weight, they were less accurate and not particularly reliable. Modern self-defense ammunition for the 9mm was not quite perfected so it seemed a rather anemic replacement for the venerable .357 Magnum. Over time I have warmed up to some of the combat plastics, but still carry a revolver on occasion. For much of my career, Colt’s Delta Elite 1911 chambered in 10mm was my weapon…

It is said imitation is the greatest form of flattery. The classic CZ 75 design is a case in point with numerous “clones” in existence. The European American Armory (EAA) imported Tanfoglia Witness model is a prime example of a CZ 75-based handgun, with Tanfoglio’s many different models garnering much attention by pushing the original CZ 75 design to its max, and perhaps even improving upon it. The EAA Witness Elite Limited Custom chambered in 10mm is a perfect example of Tanfoglia’s ability to offer something beyond 9mm. There is a lot to respect in the CZ 75 design, typified by a steel frame, Browning recoil-operated locked breech, DA/SA trigger with “cocked and locked” capability (the Witness Elite Limited Custom features a single-action trigger), internal frame rails and high-capacity magazines…

Have you ever experienced range envy? Because I certainly have. The most recent time it hit me, I was attending a Modern Samurai Project class with a standard belt holster and magazine pouches that I had to don and remove every day. The holsters were close to my body and sat at my beltline, which wasn’t ideal, so the object of my envy was the war-belt setup worn by another student. BENEFITS Known also as a battle belt or training belt, the war-belt setup is typically a wide, comfortable platform to which all your gear can attach. It can then be easily put on or taken off. In time-is-of-the-essence situations, this would be the belt that would be preconfigured, and you could quickly clip it on and get to work.…

Combat Handguns understands that our community consists of a wide variety of shooters. The spectrum ranges from professional self-defense trainers to well-known competitive shooters. Going even further, we cannot forget the “everyday shooters” who educate and train themselves with knowledge for self- and home-defense. No matter what category you identify with, one thing we all have in common is the fact that we are all continually learning: There is no such thing as “having arrived” to an all-knowing level of firearm knowledge. That is what this column is all about. In each issue, “Ask the Pros” highlights professionals from every facet of the industry, giving you a firsthand look at their personal choices of firearms and gear. These highlights give all of us an opportunity to gain knowledge and ideas…

IT’S A GUN SO ICONIC that it served both the Axis and Allies during WWII and at one time was used by over 50 different militaries. Elite military groups like the British Special Air Services (SAS) and premier law enforcement teams like our own FBI Hostage Rescue Team used the gun because of its large capacity and reputation for reliability. Both licensed and unlicensed copies of the popular gun have been produced in Belgium, Portugal, Israel, China, Argentina, Hungary, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bulgaria and now Turkey. This list is not all inclusive, but gives you an idea of just how popular the Browning Hi-Power pistol was. Also known as the Grand Puissance or P-35, the gun’s development started with a solicitation by the French military for a new sidearm. Fabrique…

KIMBER K6S DASA CALIBER .357 Magnum/.38 Special BARREL 3 inches OA LENGTH 7.62 inches WEIGHT 25.1 ounces GRIP Walnut SIGHTS Three-dot, white ACTION DA/SA FINISH Stainless CAPACITY 6 MSRP $970 S&W PC PRO M60 CALIBER .357 Magnum/.38 Special BARREL 3 inches OA LENGTH 8.7 inches WEIGHT 22.9 ounces GRIP Wood SIGHTS Tritium ramp front, rear adjustable ACTION DA/SA FINISH Stainless CAPACITY 5 MSRP $819 We won’t be getting into the revolver versus pistol debate here since that topic has been done to death umpteen times, but there’s no denying the power of the .357 Mag. round. Instead, for our head-to-head comparison this issue, we’ll roll with the assumption that some folks still like and appreciate a compact, well-appointed powerhouse of a wheelgun for a carry piece. Whether it’s for self-defense in…

The effective use of a firearm requires skill. For any sport or endeavor a skill is a learned strength bettered with practice, after proper instruction, followed by mentored repetitions. Since good instruction can only be obtained from a superior teacher, the best way to obtain useful firearm training is to have a qualified and experienced instructor who can pass on complex and dynamic concepts. That is achieved by providing students with effective drills and practice, and can build confidence to motivate them to be competent, safe and accurate shooters. This was recently demonstrated at a pistol fundamentals skill-building course at the American Police Hall of Fame under a cadre of experienced instructors headed by Dave “Boon” Benton. “Boon” was a trained, qualified firearm and tactical trainer long before the events…

Pistol-caliber carbines and their shorter-barreled kin have taken the gun industry by storm. They are less expensive to feed, can be used where a rifle cartridge is a bad idea and are lots of fun to shoot. A drawback has been that the classic blowback operating system can make a 9mm round exhibit more recoil than 5.56x45mm. Additionally, there is a physical limit to what cartridge can safely be fired from a blowback system. CMMG broke both of these norms with the creation of an entirely new operating system, the Radial Delayed Blowback (RDB). CMMG DIFFERENCE Before confusion sets in, we need to clarify that CMMG’s Banshee line is not just another AR-platform, blowback-operated personal-defense weapon. The receivers are indeed AR-patterned, but the operating system is something completely unique to…

The gun community can truly be a place where people come together, help educate one another and build each other up. At the same time, it can also be overly opinionated and unforgiving. This is especially true of “keyboard warriors” who valiantly express their opinions while tucked away safe and sound at home. Lacking true education, this small army has coined slang phrases such as “Fudd” and “Boomer” to describe shooters utilizing firearms and gear that they view as antiquated. One area where people feel the need to “educate” others on what is old and outdated is the 1911 handgun platform, and they go full steam ahead with emotional opinions versus true education and experience. As a firearm instructor that is heavily immersed in the gun industry, I sometimes hear…