August 2007

Full-Sized Tactical .45s With Accessory Rails: Buy the TRP
Once again we are responding to a subscriber by filling out a test roster with pistols suggested by reader mail. The category requested was full-size single-action-only semi-automatic pistols chambered for .45 ACP and framed with a built-in accessory rail for attaching a light or laser. We got 1911-style pistols from Kimber and Springfield Armory along with a single-action-only version of the Sigarms P220R. The Kimber was a an $1113 Custom TLE RL II, essentially the model sold to LAPD SWAT.

Two Affordable Side-By-Sides Earn Our Praise for Field Work
Like most other American shotgunners, Gun Tests shooters often express an appreciation for the beauty of the side-by-side. It takes almost nothing to fall in love with a London best—until you start looking at price tags and the waiting times to get one even if you could afford one. The reason for what is usually viewed as exorbitant pricing for famous-label makers such as Purdey, Holland & Holland, and others is actually well founded. Not only are these guns hand made, hand finished, and hand engraved (which is why it also takes years to get one if you can pony up the cash), but it has always been harder, and thus more expensive, to regulate two barrels on a horizontal plane to shoot to the same point of impact than it is to do the same with vertically arranged tubes.

All-Around .35-Calibers: We Pit Remington's CDL Vs. the BDL
The pursuit of an all-around rifle for big-game hunting leads one to the so-called medium-bore rifles, simply because nothing smaller can do as much. The bigger cartridges can either be handloaded to lower velocity with normal bullets, or reloaded with lighter bullets to cut recoil. In this report we take a look at both bullets and bolt actions to see what hunters might like in a woods rifle. First, we wanted to explore a medium-bore cartridge comparison, pitting the .35 Whelen versus the .350 Remington Magnum, two rounds we’ve not tested in the magazine’s history. Second, we have been curious to see how Remington’s three-year-old CDL line fares against the company’s standard-bearer, the BDL, which began in 1962.

Premier Competition STS Vs.Citori XS: We Prefer Browning
In the sporting clays world, shooters are always looking for an edge to give them an advantage over other competitors. Naturally, firearm manufacturers are more than willing to make new and improved models of shotguns available to this anxious audience. At times, the new and improved versions feature radical changes in typical shotgun dynamics, while there are some cases when just a minor tweaking is unveiled to the shooting crowd. One of the latest models to be introduced into the sporting clay market of moderately priced over-and-under shotguns is the Remington Premier Competition STS. This shotgun is a dramatic change from the company’s over-and-under that once dominated the skeet and trap fields — the Remington Model 3200.