Table of contents for May/June 2022 #60 in Recoil

While it’s always fun to point and laugh at anyone who claims their poverty pony AR is “just as good as” an LMT or FN, like a stopped clock, sometimes they’re right. Truth is, like the automotive industry, almost nobody in the firearms biz is making complete garbage these days, and the era of turds like the K car, AMT Hardballer, and Speshul Wepuns MP5 clones are thankfully in the rearview mirror. So we argue over minute details and get bent out of shape when someone on social media doesn’t like exactly what tickles our fancy. Yes, there are still appreciable distinctions between products, but when it comes to purchase decisions as uniquely individual as personal weapons, we have a natural tendency to get hung up on minutiae. There’s a…

With an 8,600-pound curb weight — roughly equivalent to three Toyota Corollas — and 35,000-pound maximum towing capacity, this Ford F-450 is about as much truck as you can get before graduating to a commercial-grade model. Unlike its F-250 and F-350 Super Duty siblings, the 2019 F-450 was only available with a 6.7L turbo-diesel V-8 that produces 450 horsepower and 935 pound-feet of torque, and only offered in dual-rear-wheel (aka “dually”) configuration. It’s perfectly suited to driving coast-to-coast with a massive trailer in tow but might be considered overkill for an overland vehicle build — that is, unless you’re the Peru family. Justice Peru writes, “What you see today definitely wasn’t our Plan A or even our Plan B. If I had to guess, I’d say we are on Plan…

John Moses Browning’s 1911 design has remained relevant for well over a century. Throughout the years, the 1911 has been produced by a myriad of manufacturers, both in traditional forms and in styles that depart from the archetypical 1911 design. Some manufacturers hold fast to tradition, adding only slight improvements reflecting advancing technology; others dare to be different and make more significant changes. The Springfield Armory Garrison and Alpha Foxtrot AF1911-E are representative of these differing design philosophies. Now which one is the best bang for your buck and represents the greatest value? SPRINGFIELD ARMORY GARRISON Springfield Armory’s Garrison closely follows the original Browning design. At its core, the .45 ACP Garrison is the same pistol that was carried through most of the conflicts of the 20th century, but with…

New for 2022, EOTech extends the magnification of their LPVO line out to 10x. The 1-10x Vudu is a front (or first) focal plane, which means the reticle scales with the magnification level. Like all the other EOTech Vudu scopes, the 1-10x features clear Japanese glass with virtually no optical aberrations or distortions when set to 1x. The included throw lever allows for fast magnification changes and can be removed if someone finds it to be a snag hazard. The elevation turret is push-to-lock while the less-used windage turret is capped. The 10 illumination settings are selected via push buttons, there’s a master off switch, and the optic remembers your last illumination setting. Because this isn’t a holographic or reflector red-dot sight, the Vudu 1-10x FFP can be used whether…

Here we are, one-fifth of the 21st century behind us. So it’s probably safe to assume that most folks reading this have at least a passing familiarity with paintball and airsoft guns. However, many probably still hear the word “airgun” and immediately think of “Daisy,” “Red Ryder,” or simply “BB gun.” Others might recall “my old pump-up pellet gun.” Would it surprise you to learn that there are a number of mass-produced airguns up to. 50 caliber and capable of taking big game? In fact, 23 states allow the use of big-bore (generally, .30 caliber and higher) airguns for taking deer-sized game, and efforts continue to bring more states into the fold. And the best part is, with few exceptions, any adult can purchase and own these marvelous inventions without…

Some of the Veteran Vices brands we’ve covered have national and international brand distribution, others are family-owned businesses with small but tight-knit customer bases. Filthy Pirate Coffee Company is definitely a hometown favorite with a community following. Dan Spencer is a former enlisted infantry Marine and career LEO with 13 years on his department’s SWAT team, including time as a sniper team leader. As is the case with many of our Veteran Vices brand founders, Dan was getting burned out after years on the street and in search of an alternate outlet for his efforts. With decades of drinking bad coffee under his belt, he decided to pursue a low-acidity, less-bitter, smoother coffee experience. What he found was that discriminating bean selection and air roasting gave him a much smoother…

01 BENCHMADE KNIFE CO. LONGHAND AND SHORTHAND MSRP: Starting at $150 each URL: benchmade.com Benchmade recently released two high-quality and functional tactical pens: the Longhand and the Shorthand. The latter is (you guessed it) the smaller model at 3.49 inches in length, while the former clocks in at 4.62 inches overall. Both open via an ambidextrous AXIS-style bolt action and are available in either 303 stainless steel or black 6061-T6 aluminum. The Shorthand is ideal for minimalists who prefer compact, durable everyday-carry items. And while the Longhand is really not that long — we would’ve preferred it to be at least a half-inch longer — it’s a classy, ergonomic pen that’s reliable in all sorts of environments, from the boardroom to the shooting range. Both are made in the USA.…

The reverse tanto seems like a modern design. Take a standard American tanto and invert it, right? Actually, this style of blade has an ancient origin in principle and shape, if not the name. Like its close cousin the Wharncliffe, it can be traced to the Migration Period in Europe (300-375 A.D.) when it was known as the Seax. The blade style and shape were single edged, sometimes with a point, but often without it. Seax is presumed to be the Old English word for “knife” and how the Saxons gained their name, but on the other side of the world, similar designs came into use. In Japan, a style of knife known as the kubikiri or kubigiri came into use. The translation for this is “head cutter” and was…

With a history going back more than 600 years, lead has been accepted as a mainstay in ammunition. It has a low melting point, is easily molded, and soft and heavy enough for good expansion upon impact. But will it be the main substance for projectiles for the next 600 years, or even 100 years? Lead was banned nationwide for waterfowl hunting in the United States in 1991. Since then, a lot of work has been done in development of steel shot and other alternatives. Things went a step further when California banned the use of lead hunting ammunition — with all shotguns and rifles — as of July 1, 2019. The bill was passed in October 2013 and requires the use of non-lead ammunition when hunting in the state.…

The VSS Vintorez used to mostly be discussed among Cold War nerds and wildcat reloaders — until 2007. It wasn’t combat footage, respect for the terminal ballistics, or appreciation of the design that first captivated public attention. Instead, the glory goes to the first-person-shooter game STALKER developed by GSC Game World and released that year. At least one company has been showing off an American-made Vintorez for a couple years, but we’ve yet to see it come to market. We’re also sometimes cautious of one-off production when it comes to firearms. Ultimately, we wanted our build to be inspired by the Vintorez rather than an exact clone. Everything is off-the-shelf, all mods were done with hand tools, and our base rifle can go back exactly the way it was in…

It’s been said before that “the most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.” While I wasn’t a Marine, I’d like to think that a capable rifleman and his rifle are a force to be reckoned with, Marine or otherwise. As such, a well-tuned and highly capable carbine is an absolute staple of prepared living. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I started with the military’s “recce rifle” concept (essentially an accurized AR), scaled down to leverage current advancements in barrel technology. This build sports a tube from Rosco Manufacturing. Specifically, this one is their collaboration barrel, built with input from Aaron Cowan of Sage Dynamics. It’s a 12.5-inch barrel made from 416R stainless with a 1:7 twist and NATO-spec 5.56mm chamber.…

When the internet collectively laid their eyes on the new Springfield Armory SAINT Edge ATC, one refrain was “why?” — we don’t count ourselves among them. Much of AR-15 development over the last six or so decades took place out of operational necessity; barrels were shortened, gas systems changed, extractors and buffer systems mucked with, and all manner of small improvements were made. With this new model, Springfield Armory’s intentionally squeezing every ounce of accuracy capability they can from the system. Are they squeezing a dry orange? Read on … FEATURES & DESIGN It doesn’t look like a standard AR-15, and we chalk that up in the positive column. Upon closer inspection, you can see that it is, indeed, an AR of some stripe, but you can tell there’s more…

Despite being the go-to American brand when it comes to pump guns, Mossberg has never been able to capture the public imagination when it comes to semi-autos‚ mainly because past iterations of their offerings have been various flavors of hot garbage. The last model, the 930, was launched with the blessing of the prophet Miculek (PBUH) and seemed to be destined for greatness, but after witnessing first-hand several examples fail during courses of fire on the three-gun circuit, questions regarding consistency in their manufacturing persisted. Some users report nary a hiccup, while others seem to require detailed and rigorous cleaning every few hundred rounds in order to stave off gremlins. The 940 seeks to address all these concerns with a comprehensive revamp of several key components, and the ones we’ve…

In 2017, I was demonstrating a Rider Ericsson hot air pumping engine at the Coolspring Power Museum in Pennsylvania. There, I met Tom Stockton, a volunteer who was driving a forklift and helping folks unload their engines for the various displays. It turned out that we were both engineers, so I mentioned that I was a gun designer (currently working for Knight’s Armament) and he told me that he had an “1880s Stevens barrel rifling machine” for sale. I was extremely interested, so when he named his price, I bought it sight unseen, with the stipulation that I get it running and bring it back to the Coolspring Power Museum for display. I immediately started planning how to make the machine both portable and displayable. Since the machine had spent…

“The greatest battle implement ever devised” was how General Patton described the now-legendary M1 Garand. After all, the Garand is a proper wood- and-steel battle rifle used to defend freedom from World War II to the Vietnam War. Through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), the Garand and many other service weapons have made their way to the happy hands of American shooters for recreational use. Many of these rifles are returns from lend-lease programs and military surplus, with some interesting stories — if only they could talk. While some continued their lives as bull’s-eye rifles, collector pieces, and even trophies, some have been poorly sporterized. This refers to the practice of modifying military-style firearms for various civilian uses by lobbing off sights, cutting down barrels, modifying stocks, and other changes.…