Handguns

The Toronto National Post reports that Toronto Mayor David Miller has announced a plan that would make all handguns illegal in Toronto, institute a series of measures that will effectively shut down gun ranges and make it all but impossible to manufacture, assemble or store firearms within city limits. The measures are contained in a report prepared by city staff that is to be presented to the executive committee next week. The report, 'City-Based Measures to…

Big news at the Exeter, New Hampshire, plant not only includes a change of name from Sigarms to Sig Sauer, but also the release of a new pistol. The P250 featured a double-action system that raised the hammer smoothly in direct proportion to movement of the trigger. The stroke was long but the same length every time. Aside from the single-action 1911-style pistols, other Sig Sauer trigger systems are not as simple.

Some models feature a double-action first stroke with the hammer remaining cocked thereafter and the trigger resetting rearward in the trigger guard. Until manually decocked, subsequent shots are fired single-action only.

…Koenig narrowly beat four-time-winner Bruce Piatt 1918-185X to 1918-182X, respectively. Carl Bernosky took third with a score of 1918-176X.

…AcuSport’s customers are the first retailers to have been given an exclusive first-look at FFLGuard, a new legal service offered by The Chiafullo Group, LLP (“the Group”), a law firm based in New Jersey.

…A brief filed in the case, on which I offered some counsel, argues that the law is especially harmful to gay Americans. The brief joins a large coalition of groups, including the National Rifle Association, arguing for individual rights under the Second Amendment.

The LA Times recently speculated that rocker Ted Nugent is prepared to replace Charlton Heston as popular culture's most outspoken proponent of the 2nd Amendment.

Gun activists were upset with him earlier this year because of a brief he filed in the Second Amendment challenge of the District's handgun ban.

Maj. Mike Anti of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Beki Snyder (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Libby Callahan (Columbia, S.C.), Jason Turner (Rochester, N.Y.) and Sgt. 1st Class Daryl Szarenski of the USAMU all qualified for spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team today at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Shooting (Smallbore). …

Georgians with carry licenses can tote their concealed guns on public transportation, carry in restaurants that serve alcohol, and carry in state parks

District 2 U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, believes he will be able to do even more to help gun owners in eastern Oklahoma now that he’s been named to the National Rifle Association’s Board of Directors.

The Republican National Committee is distributing a release questioning Barack Obama’s commitment to gun rights, which he said he supports in many campaign speeches.

In our recent test of three small semi-automatic pistols chambered for 32 Auto, we learned that they could be fired quickly with little recoil. In this test we upped the power to 380 ACP and tried again with three more guns that were nearly identical to our 32s in size, action, and mechanical operation. In two of three cases, we repeated our tests with guns made by the same manufacturer. These were the $573 Walther USA PPK 380 and the $419 Taurus PT138BP-12. Our third 380 was the $330 Ruger LCP. This was a very close copy of the Kel-Tec P3AT last tested in our March 2004 issue, and which we test head to head with the LCP later in this issue to see just how similar they are.The 380 ACP is also referred to as 9mm Kurz or 9mm Short. The length of a 380 Auto cartridge case is about 2mm shorter than the popular 9mm Parabellum case. Bullet diameter is the same. In fact, this same bullet diameter can be shared with more powerful ammunition such as 38 Super. By moving up to 380 ACP we hoped to gain an advantage over the 32 Auto pistols by delivering greater stopping power without significantly increasing recoil. The advantage of chambering ammunition with a short overall length kept these guns small and concealable.We had been surprised how well our 32-caliber pistols performed in our accuracy tests, so we tested our 380s from the same distance of 15 yards. Test ammunition was MagTech 95-grain FMC, Federal Premium 90-grain Hydra-Shok JHP, and Hornady 90-grain JHP/XTP rounds. We also performed the same action tests with our 380s as we did with our thirty two caliber pistols. But this time we limited all strings of fire to six rounds, shooting each gun until empty. We didnt think emptying the 12-round magazine of the Taurus pistol was necessary. However, we wanted to make sure we experienced any change in handling or reliability as each gun ran dry.The MagTech ammunition was used exclusively during the action tests. We fired at an IDPA-style target from a distance of 3 yards and the drill was completed three times. After recording total elapsed time, we subtracted the time it took to break the first shot to arrive at the split time (elapsed time between shots). We wanted to know how quickly each gun could be fired. We also checked accuracy on the cardboard targets to see how well we could group 18 shots in relation to the 8-inch circle embossed on the target, which served as our point of aim. In an effort to replicate a close-quarter situation, all shots were fired strong hand only. Aiming was achieved with a mix of sighted and point-shooting technique. Tests were performed outdoors at the Impact Zone (theimpactzonerange.com) in Monaville, Texas. Lets see how our three guns performed.