We Test Two AR-Style Pistols from Bushmaster and OA
The $1020 OA 98 from Olympic Arms is a steady performer, but Bushmaster's $862 Carbon 15 Model 97 pistol stumbles.
A Pair of Tiny Pocket 9mms: We Pick the PM9 Over the R9s
Kahr's product was by "fahr" a better carry gun than Rohrbaugh's R9s, in our estimation.
Serious Shooting .45s: Springfield Armory Edges out Gunsites Colt
The $1,560 Springfield Armory TRP and the $1,495 Colt Gunsite 1911 45s prove to be "pro tools" worth the extra investment.
Parkerized Mil-Spec 1911 .45s: Springfield Beats Auto Ordnance
Playing G.I. with the Springfield Parkerized Mil-Spec, $559, was more fun than with the Auto Ordnance 1911, $515.
Small-Frame .17 HMR Revolvers: Two Guns We Can Live Without
Taurus's latest $406 .17 HMR revolvers shoot accurately but cannot overcome cartridge-related problems.
Lightweight Carry Options: A 9mm, a .40 S&W, and a .45 GAP
Glock's new $640 Model 37 excels with a brand-new round. Smith & Wesson's titanium $812 4040PD opens new doors, but the $550 FN P9 comes up short.
Big-Bore Semi-Automatic Pistols: Desert Eagle, Wildey Face Off
For some people all that a gun needs is charisma, mainly due to its appearance in a number of Hollywood movies. If the Minneapolis-based firm of Magnum Research has achieved nothing else, then the Desert Eagle's place in history has been assured by its striking profile and big hole in the muzzle.
Compact 9mm Pistols: Sigarms P226 Is Our Pick Over Taurus, FN
Taurus's new Model 24/7, $594, is a pretty good polymer pistol, but the pricey $830 Sigarms P226 shoots better. In comparison, the $450 FN 49 RSS is appealing on price, but it's average fare.
Versatile Four-Inch Forty-Bore Revolvers: Big Snake Charms Us
Smith & Wesson's $833 Model 610 10mm/.40 S&W is a slick shooter, but the $1000 Colt Anaconda in .44 Special/.44 Magnum is better than ever, in our estimation.
Two Surplus Pistols: Stars 9mm S.A. Model BM Shines Brightly
But we would advise you to leave the Mak P-64 9x18 alone. Though it looked new, we found substantial workmanship and function problems in our sample.
Expensive 1911s: Kimber, Lone Star, and Wilson Shoot It Out
We pit a trio of custom production guns and learn a lot about what makes a topnotch .45 ACP. But did we like Kimber's LTP II, the Lone Star Lawman Match, or Wilson's CQB best?
Non-1911 .45 ACP Single-Stack Pistols: Sigarms Versus S&W
In the fall of 2003, Earnest Langdon captured the Custom Defensive Pistol Division (CDP) at the annual International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) championship match held in Little Rock, Arkansas. That Langdon, a top competitor in the Practical Shooting ranks, was victorious is not news. What was news is that he did it competing with a traditional double action Sigarms P220ST pistol rather than a custom 1911, the type of pistol for which the CDP division was founded upon. Naturally, we wanted to know what was so special about this gun. Taking a quick look at it, we immediately recognized that another pistol, the Smith & Wesson 4566TSW, was similar.
We couldn't wait to strip these guns down and see if they differed radically on the inside, and then take them to the range. Keeping in mind that an IDPA Custom Defensive Pistol was allowed plenty of leeway in terms of modification we also wanted to find out if these pistols could be "hot-rodded" with aftermarket parts. What we found impressed us.
