Table of contents for July/August 2019 in Combat Handguns

It wasn’t that long ago that CZ, in a reversal of sorts, introduced its first striker-fired pistol. The P-10 C, where “C” stands for “compact,” immediately got a lot of positive reviews for its features and performance but left some of us with a nagging question: What is the P-10 C a compact version of? Well, after a couple years, CZ has decided to answer that question. The company recently unveiled the full-sized version, which is dubbed simply the P-10 F. Catchy, huh? Though it’s not quite as assertive a name as, say, the Annihilator 3000, there’s something respectful and thoughtful about the understatement. At first glance, the P-10 F looks just like the P-10 C. It’s just bigger and holds more ammo. Right? Well, not exactly. CZ’s made a…

Speer recently announced the launch of its new ecommerce site speer-ammo.com. For the first time ever, customers can buy Gold Dot ammunition, component bullets and more directly from Speer. “This is a place where our customers can buy specialized Speer products, such as 44 Special, 327 Federal Magnum and 32 Auto, that many retailers tend not to carry consistently,” said Speer Senior Marketing Director Jason Nash. Speer’s online shopping cart features free shipping on orders of $50 or more shipped to a single U.S. address (before promotions, discounts and taxes are applied). All orders are shipped UPS Ground. Delivery times vary, but most orders will be shipped within 10 working days. Speer’s website offers a wealth of information on the brand’s proven lineup of loaded ammo and component bullets, all…

Lots of scary stuff happens when the lights go out because darkness invites mischief and debauchery. We’d all love to be creatures of the night, capable of stalking prey like a jungle cat. But for us humans, that simply won’t happen. We can prepare for darkness, however. We can train during periods of limited visibility and carry items on us that are battlefield multipliers. We can prepare our gear and mindset to ensure that we are not victimized when shit goes bump in the night. Take your home, for instance. Are you prepared to illuminate a would-be douchebag who’s got eyes on your wears? If something goes bump in the night, escalation of force must be considered. We can’t go assaulting the objective all sua sponte. If you need to…

WILSON COMBAT first introduced the 9mm EDC X9 pistol back in 2017. It represented the most comprehensive and extensive design ever undertaken in Wilson Combat’s history—a long one at 40 years. Bill Wilson is noted for his attention to detail and an unwillingness to simply adopt designs based solely on what’s popular. If it’s going to carry his name, it must be accurate, reliable and the best out there, even if that means designing and building everything in-house, and the EDC X9 is a perfect example of this. Today, 9mm 1911s are incredibly popular because they’re light on recoil and easy to handle. Wilson Combat makes some of the best, but most are limited to a capacity of 10+1 rounds. So when the company decided to up the ante, it…

For a handgun that many people have said is “on its way out,” the revolver is staging a remarkable comeback among firearms enthusiasts. Some new models and several variations were introduced at the 2019 SHOT Show, the premier venue for firearms and accessory manufacturers, and I’ve done my best to round up some of the best here. So without further ado, let’s get to it! COLT KING COBRA Hot on the heels of the .38 Special Cobra that Colt reintroduced in 2017, the new King Cobra is a traditional DA/SA revolver with a beefed-up frame and a 3-inch barrel. Like the original, its cylinder holds six .357 Magnum rounds. Features include a brass bead front sight, a grooved topstrap that serves as a rear sight, a full-length underlug, a brushed…

An impartial review of the dynamics of stopping mass murder shows that the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre was right when he famously said that it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun. The proof of that has been starkly seen in case after case. But what happens when the armed good guy who stopped the bad guy is then mistaken for the bad guy and shot by police? To analyze that, let’s discuss three such recent tragedies. HOME INVASION Case One takes us to Aurora, Colorado, in July of 2018. An apparently deranged man named Dajon Harper, 26, broke into a residence and decided to take a shower in the occupied home. An 11-year-old boy who lived there was awakened by the sound.…

To put it bluntly, the new Trijicon Specialized Reflex Optic (SRO) is awesome. Unfortunately, you won’t realize how awesome it is until you actually try it out. So, in this limited amount of space, I’ll try to convey how awesome the SRO actually is. I first laid eyes on the SRO at the 2019 SHOT Show when Trijicon representatives showed me one mounted to a blue gun. Now, usually when you have a reflex sight mounted on a pistol, it takes time and practice to find the red dot and consistently raise it to the same level. I brought the blue gun up to eye level, and boom, the red dot was immediately present. I repeated several this times with the same result. The red dot was always easy to…

THERE ARE A LOT OF SNAKES IN THE FIREARMS INDUSTRY. No, I’m not talking about the people. I’m being quite literal. You’ve got all those old Colt revolvers—the Cobra, King Cobra, Python, Viper, Boa, Diamondback and Anaconda. (Never mind the mixed metaphor, or the fact that snakes and horses don’t exactly get along well.) Then you have com-panies like Diamondback Firearms, and Bushmaster’s logo is a coiled snake ready to strike. I can only assume this is because snakes are relatively small and sleek, they’re good at hiding or blending in, and when push comes to shove, they pack one hell of a bite. These are all good traits for a firearm your life could depend on. This brings me to the new MPX Copperhead from Sig Sauer—one of three…

How often have you been sitting around with a group of fellow action pistol shooters—maybe it’s a post-match bull session or a social gathering over a few adult bever-ages—when someone mentions the accomplishments of a well-known professional shooter? This inevi-tably leads to another member of the group saying, “Heck, if I could afford pistols like his, I’d shoot just as well as he does.”How often have you been sitting around with a group of fellow action pistol shooters—maybe it’s a post-match bull session or a social gathering over a few adult bever-ages—when someone mentions the accomplishments of a well-known professional shooter? This inevi-tably leads to another member of the group saying, “Heck, if I could afford pistols like his, I’d shoot just as well as he does.” My usual response:…

Regardless of your political affiliation, there’s one inarguable fact that nobody can dispute: One huge benefit of the current political scene has been the welcome return of rimfire ammunition. The empty shelves of the past few years are now filling up with .22 LR rounds and bringing about a resurgence of this “lowly” cartridge. Now that the stuff’s available again, people are shooting it again. This availability has brought old favorite firearms out of safes and closets, and it’s also contributing to the introduction of new models. One company riding the wave is Smith & Wesson, which unveiled its Victory pistol line in 2016. The company hit the market hard with the new design, and there are currently four standard Victory models and four Performance Center Victory Target models available,…

In 2011, the U.S. Army and Air Force announced their Modular Handgun System (MHS) trials to find a new service pistol to replace the M9 (Beretta) and M11 (Sig) pistols and those 1911s still in limited service. The Army set out several requirements that became more focused over the years. Originally, it wanted one 9mm that could be configured as both full-sized (M17) and compact (M18) variants. Other MHS mounting a miniature reflex sight; ambidextrous controls, including a thumb safety; a loaded-chamber indicator; an improved slide subassembly to capture small components when disassembled; a trigger design that prevents foreign debris from entering the action; and a corrosionresistant PVD finish on metal components. The barrel lengths for the M17 and M18 were set around 4.7 and 3.9 inches, respectively. The Army…

While dozens of types of factory ammunition are out there, it does get a bit expensive to shoot all the time. The alternative, of course, is reloading your own ammunition, so the best place to start, whether you’re a nimrod or even a veteran, is selecting a loading manual. Considering the assortment of manuals at my favorite gun shop, it appears that anyone who makes bullets and powders publishes a loading manual. It’s a given! Hornady, Speer, Barnes, RCBS, Lyman, Nosler, Swift, Norma, Hodgdon and Sierra all stand tall on the shelf. While you don’t need all of them, it’s a good idea to look them over for your specific needs and go from there. Naturally, if you especially like Hornady or Sierra bullets, for example, their manuals should be…

CALIBER 9mm BARREL 4.01 inches OA LENGTH7.36 inches WEIGHT 28.5 ounces (empty) GRIP Polymer SIGHTS Night Fision tritium ACTION Safe Action FINISH Black, cobalt gray CAPACITY 15+1 MSRP $1,499 The 9mm Glock 19 is one of the most popular pistols ever sold. You may debate its beauty or ergonomics, but there is no question that it has withstood the test of time with its ease of use and maintenance and its to-hell-and-back reliability. Indeed, that could be said of most of the pistols in Glock’s lineup, so much so that a cottage industry has sprung up around the platform to allow users to customize and improve certain aspects of their favorite models. A couple of companies within this niche industry are Zev Technologies and Grey Ghost Precision (GGP). For this…

READY TO WIN? VISIT personaldefenseworld.com/win-taurus for your chance to win this Taurus TX22 and much more!* We’re giving until it hurts! In this special “Fully Loaded” gun giveaway, you can enter to win everything you need for the ultimate plinking experience, including a brand-new Taurus TX22 and a pallet of accessories to get you going. And we’re even including a new folding knife to help you get all of these goods of that tricky packaging. 1. TAURUS TX22 Sometimes overlooked as a “beginner” caliber, training with a .22 has many advantages over just saving you money. You can practice your accuracy, drawing from concealment, strong- and weak-hand shooting, reloads and transitions, to name just a few skills. A small-caliber handgun like a .22 LR is also a great way to…

Ammunition manufacturers once again brought highly innovative products to this year’s SHOT Show. Several new lines made their debuts, and over 100 new loads have been added to existing lines. Of course, we’re focused on handgun ammo here, so we’ve rounded up everything from the .22 LR to the .454 Casull. Every need is covered here, too, from law enforcement and personal defense to hunting and competition. So far, 2019 is already shaping up to be an interesting year for ammunition, and it’ll only get better as time moves on. Ready to load up? AGUILA 9MM JHPs This standard-pressure, 117-grain load from Aguila has a muzzle velocity of 1,150 feet per second (fps) and generates 344 foot-pounds of energy (FPE). It also has a very reasonable MSRP of $20 for…