Tabla de contenidos para May/June 2021 en Combat Handguns

I dated a young lady in college that was nearly the end of me. Tall and athletic with coarse raven hair that was demonstrative of her Mexican and Apache lineage, she turned heads wherever she went. I was in love with her before I even met her! Dahteste could melt my heart with a smile and those who did not know her, envied me. But she had another side, and her volatile and uncontrollable temper withered me like a flamethrower. Apparently, her disposition was an unkept secret as her sorority sisters, who never could pronounce her name properly, had nicknamed her Hellcat—a moniker that she seemed to wear with pride. So, last year when Springfield Armory released its Hellcat, I had a few private laughs and scary recollections of my…

GLOCK G19 GEN 3 CALIBER 9mm BARREL 4.02 inches OA LENGTH 7.3 inches WEIGHT 23.6 ounces (empty) GRIP Polymer SIGHTS Standard, 3-Dot ACTION Striker-fired FINISH Nitride CAPACITY 15+1 USED PRICE $599 BERETTA PX4 COMPACT CARRY CALIBER 9mm BARREL 3.2 inches OA LENGTH 6.8 inches WEIGHT 27.3 ounces (empty) GRIP Polymer SIGHTS High-visibility night sights ACTION DA/SA FINISH Bruniton CAPACITY 15+1 USED PRICE $599 Unless you’ve been living abroad the past year, you’ve no doubt heard about or experienced the ammunition and new firearm shortage as of late. Our nation’s current state of affairs occasioned me to pay a visit to my local gun shop to browse the used pistol inventory. As a gun writer, I have early access to the latest and greatest defensive pistols hitting the market, but I…

There is perhaps no more iconic revolver in American law enforcement than the Smith & Wesson .38 Military & Police. The M&P was the quintessential police pistol for much of the 20 th Century. In 1957, Smith & Wesson adopted model numbers and the M&P became the Model 10. The Model 10 was based on the K frame, was chambered in .38 Special and held six rounds. The fixed sights were very durable, which was a plus for the uniformed officers of the day. Originally, Model 10s were available in 2-, 4-, 5-, or 6-inch barrel models. Barrel profiles included a tapered shape and a heavy bull barrel. Model 10s were not only popular with American law enforcement, but were exported across the globe. The Model 10, even with the…

How can you not be a fan of the 1911 platform? It’s a simple, yet proven design that is easy and fun to shoot. In my mind, one place a 1911 tends to lack is in the looks department. They have always had that classic, clean look that distinctly screams, “Of course I’m a 1911!” That’s not to say that there aren’t some amazing custom shops out there building some absolute dream guns. Kimber is known for some of the top 1911s on the market and they pretty much revolutionized the market with the release of their Rapide Black Ice (we covered the .45 ACP variant in the Jan./Feb. 2021 issue). I have not been able to find another word to describe it other than “sexy” since the first time…

The folks at Blackhawk have stepped up their game from the humble beginnings in Navy SEAL Mike Noell’s garage. This I found out during a recent run-and-gun tour. Blackhawk has grown into a massive operation, manufacturing everything tactical from holsters and entry tools to packs. In case you haven’t heard the story, Noell was navigating a minefield when his pack failed. He vowed that if he got out alive, he would manufacture equipment the right way and potentially save lives. THE EARLY DAYS In 1993, starting in his garage with a small “cut and sew” shop, his company grew into a 65,000-square-foot., 3.5- story corporate headquarters with manufacturing in three states and a global presence by 2008. During that time frame, Noell and his team were responsible for acquiring nine…

“BECAUSE MANY HK FANS VALUE AUTHENTICITY, HK CONFIGURED THE SP5 WITH CLASSIC FEATURES, SOME OF WHICH ARE DECADES OLD.” SEMI-AUTO VERSIONS of Heckler & Koch’s legendary MP5 submachine gun are among the most sought after weapons, but until now, buyers have had to make due with imported and domestically made clones. These imitations might look like the genuine article, but they don’t carry the cachet or the standard-setting quality of the real deal. Fortunately, HK finally launched two civilian-legal versions of the MP5 designated the SP5 and SP5 PDW. Both are pistols with the latter model based on the shorter MP5K subgun. Let’s take a look at the SP5. GUN DETAILS When the SP5 was released in January 2020, the first question every eager buyer wanted to know was how…

Even the most fair-weather James Bond fan can recall the scene in 1962’s Dr. No, where “M” chides the late Sean Connery for carrying an underpowered Beretta. “M” reminds him, “You’re licensed to kill, not get killed.” He calls in the armorer to replace the Beretta with the Walther PPK. Instantly, the PPK became an icon, and the pistol appears both on movie posters and in film. Bond wields the pistol in multiple configurations, from waxing an unsuspecting bad guy with a suppressor attached, to firing from the hip in flight from a villain’s lair. The PPK was the character’s primary sidearm for decades until it was replaced by yet another Walther, the P99, in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies. But icons being what they are, the pistol returns in 2008’s…

What are the differences among price levels, and does price impact performance or just the added features? I took three pairs of electronic muffs and three pairs of earbuds and compared them among price tiers for their segment. For testing the all-important noise reduction qualities, I shot a 2.5-inch S&W Model 19 .357 Magnum at an indoor range wearing each set of ear-pro. Additionally, I tested each at an outdoor range firing a .308 Remington 700 with a 20-inch barrel. I looked at build quality, comfort and fitment. Audio and connectivity quality were evaluated, along with battery life for the buds. The overall perceived value versus price determined the winners. THE BUDS Walker’s Silencer BT 2.0 Beginning at the middle price tier is the newly released Walker’s Silencer BT 2.0…

Yes, we love our Glocks. We love them like our parents loved their station wagons and like people love their simple black coffee. There is just something reliable and comforting about them. Every now and then, though, we want to add some zing and excitement to our lives. Our plain black coffee goes to a sugar-free French vanilla ice coffee with six Splenda and extra cream. Our Glocks go high octane as well, and the team at Continuous Precision is there to help make that happen. THE MODIFIERS Continuous Precision is a quality American purveyor of pistol modifications and accessories. Based in Milford, Michigan, just northwest of Detroit, they offer a series of slide packages as well as trigger and accessory options for a variety of guns. In short, they…

There was a time when you could find the little .32 Seecamp pistol in the back pocket or ankle holster of most savvy defense experts. And if they didn’t have one, it was only because the tiny gun’s scarcity brought scalper prices when one became available for sale. Seecamp’s small shop couldn’t come close to satisfying the demand for their tiny, DAO semi-auto. Seizing on this unmet demand, the management at North American Arms designed their own version of the .32 blowback operated pistol in 1997. Called the Guardian, NAA tightened the tolerances and machined the gun from 17-4 stainless steel and, like the Seecamp gun, chambered it for .32 ACP. NAA’s ultra-modern factory was able to satisfy demand in a timely fashion and at a price cheaper than you’d…

Range time and duty-pistol talk with American SheriffMARK LAMB Southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, in the beautiful Sonoran Desert lies Pinal County. It is the exact image many people conjure up in their minds when they think of Arizona; saguaro cactus, rolling desert and stark terrain. The law in this setting for a cowboy Western is none other than Sheriff Mark Lamb. Complete with cowboy hat, this tall, larger-than-life lawman has become known as the American Sheriff. He was elected as the 24th sheriff of Pinal County in 2017. Lamb oversees a county the size of Connecticut and manages more than 650 employees within the department. Pinal County is in my backyard and, with little more than a polite request, Sheriff Lamb agreed to meet me on the range to talk…

It’s hard to believe the Model 29 is coming up to nearly 65 years in production. Designed and engineered for the powerful .44 Magnum cartridge, for a change of pace, a few rounds using the .44 Special will get you out shooting your masterpiece more often. In the past, the Model 24 was built to handle only the .44 Special, but limiting one gun to one cartridge is not good economics for both shooter and manufacturer. The Model 29, on the other hand, adds a great deal of versatility to one’s shooting requirements by using the milder loads the Special is noted for, or for serious hunting, allowing one to switch to “full house” loads with a definite increase in foot-pounds at the muzzle. Over time, I’ve had the pleasure…

IF you were to sit down and draw up a list of the most iconic pistols of the 20th century, I’m pretty certain any objective person would have the Colt 1911 and the CZ 75 near the top of the list. Both were phenomenally popular pistols and both have seen long tenures as sidearms for various militaries. Even with the advent of polymer frames, striker-fired actions and modular components, purists who appreciate form, function and a sense of style still migrate to these platforms to this day. Despite their similar popularity, the two pistols are quite different in many ways. The 1911 is a single-stack and single-action .45 ACP (originally) pistol, while the CZ 75 is a double-stack, 9mm DA/SA design. So you’ll understand my flabbergasted response to the news…

DIY gunsmithing has a long history in America. In Colonial and Frontier days, you frequently had to fix your own gun or suffer the consequences. In the 20th Century, a large number of our fathers and grandfathers sporterized surplus military arms with aftermarket stocks, scopes and iron sights. They also did trigger jobs, glass bedded actions, bent bolt handles and performed many other custom modifications. Today companies like Brownells, Midway USA and others produce an increasing number of aftermarket products for DIY gunsmiths. Real Avid of Plymouth, Minnesota, is a company that makes master-grade tools and cleaning products for hands-on gun owners who want to tailor their firearms to their own personal needs. Real Avid’s latest product is the Master Sight Pusher for mounting sights on the majority of semi-auto…