Handguns

To test for function, feel, and accuracy, we tried a variety of standard 38 Special and 38 Special +P loads as well as a 357 Magnum set. What we found was that these old-style revolvers shot well. Across all ammo brands and types, we averaged about 1.5-inch 5-shot groups at 25 yards using a rest. Those older-style sights may not be as easy to use as more modern sights, but with some practice by the shooter, they sure can get the job done.

Depending on what you prefer, you will either like the more traditionally styled revolver or the modern update, but for most of our shooters, the Ruger Bisley came out on top, and you will see why shortly. Here's more on the Bisley match up.

The pistol is so difficult to fire due to the heavy recoil, realistic practice is out of the question, at least for our shooters.

To collect accuracy data, we fired five-shot groups off a solid bench rest. Distance was 5 yards. We recorded velocities with a Shooting Chrony Master Chronograph. The first sky screen was set 10 feet from the muzzle.

Toward the end of each year, I survey the work R.K. Campbell, Roger Eckstine, Austin Miller, Ray Ordorica, Robert Sadowski, David Tannahill, Tracey Taylor, John Taylor, Rafael Urista, Ralph Winingham, and Kevin Winkle have done in Gun Tests, with an eye toward selecting guns, accessories, and ammunition the magazine's testers have endorsed. From these evaluations I pick the best from a full year's worth of tests and distill recommendations for readers, who often use them as shopping guides. These choices are a mixture of our original tests and other information I've compiled during the year. After we roll high-rated test products into long-term testing, I keep tabs on how those guns do, and if the firearms and accessories continue performing well, then I have confidence including them in this wrap-up.— Todd Woodard

The American Derringer Company handgun is a very good upgrade of the original Remington design. The construction is robust, and the pistol is well polished. The grips fit well. The plunger to release the barrel lock is an excellent addition to the derringer design, and the hammer block really sold us on the pistol. While we question the viability of the derringer for personal defense, they are still popular handguns. If you must purchase a derringer, this is the one to have.

Meet the derringer, an anomalous little pocket pistol of which there are many types. Gun Tests tested 3 of these handguns to see if they are worth the purchase. Turns out, they might be better for show than for showdown. The original derringer was a product of one Henry Deringer, a 19th-century maker of small muzzleloading pocket pistols. His original Philadelphia Deringer percussion-lock pistols were usually 41 caliber and varied in length from 1.5 to 6 inches. The most notable use of a Deringer was by John Wilkes Booth, who shot President Abraham Lincoln. Once cartridge guns came into being, Deringer's name was misspelled often enough to become the generic description of a small pocket pistol of limited capacity, often with a sliding or pivoting breech block. They commonly carried two shots, although some were designed for up to four shots. They were sometimes called "muff pistols" because they were carried in a muff or hand warmer used in the winter. Also, the derringer became a backup favorite of Western marshals and outlaws alike.

Among the most successful of these handguns was the Remington Derringer. In fact, the Remington's profile is associated more with the derringer than Deringer's original single-shot black-powder pistol. The Remington doubled the payload with twin barrels in the over-and-under fashion. The Remington barrels pivot upward to load and unload, and a pivoting cam on the firing pin fired first one barrel then the other. The Remington Derringer was made of iron, never steel, and was manufactured from 1866 to 1935. That is a long run for a relatively primitive handgun. The .41 Short Rimfire it fired was no powerhouse, exiting the Remington barrel at 425 fps. There have been many copies of the Remington, and two of the pistols tested in this report are copies of the Remington, namely the Cobra Enterprises CB9 Big Bore Derringer 9mm Luger, $151; and the American Derringer Company Standard Model 38 Special, which we bought used for $212. The third gun in the test was a new take on the derringer concept, the DoubleTap Defense Tactical Pocket Pistol in 9mm Luger, $499 MSRP and a $345 counter price from Cheaper Than Dirt!

The derringers were all easy to carry well, and the balance and flat profile make for a nice pocket or vest pistol. However, after testing both the derringer concept and the individual derringers, we think the money spent on these handguns would be better used elsewhere. But we graded on a "derringer" scale relative to each other, even though none of our test shooters would buy one. Here's what we found.

The Cobra Derringer is a modern attempt to provide a useful pocket firearm. Operation is straightforward, although some attention to detail is needed to carry safely.

See reader feedback on pistols, rifles, handguns and more! Reader John S. took our list of 380 ACPs to his local gun store in the Golden State, but his results were far from golden. Mare's Leg pistols are in fact legal for sale in California. Not all home building materials take bullets equally. And pistols that look like rifles. Lots of them.

From 1958 to 1961, the TV Western series "Wanted: Dead or Alive" launched Steve McQueen's acting career, and it also laid claim to the debut of a lever-action pistol nicknamed by McQueen's character. Call it Hollywood magic or a TV set armorer's clever idea, the Mare's Leg as depicted by "Wanted: Dead or Alive" was a chopped-down Winchester Model 1892 rifle. The barrel was cut off just forward of the forearm, and the buttstock was lopped off just past the lever. The lever was also oversized, all the better to spin the shortened rifle around your hand. Please do not try spinning these shortened lever guns at home, as you might, at the very least, poke your eye out, or worse, do grave bodily harm. Also remember that Hollywood's magic had Josh Randall, Steven McQueen's character, wear 45-70 Gov't. cartridges in his Mare's Leg gun belt. The Model 1892 rifles were never chambered in that cartridge. TV Westerns back then were as popular as investigative crime shows are today and the Mare's Leg made the lead character stand out in the crowd and leave a lasting impression.

There is definitely a cool factor with the Mare's Leg, but it is an odd pistol to shoot. Using one hand means a shooter's arm quickly fatigues, unless you have the biceps of a Navy SEAL. All the weight of the pistol is forward from the shooting hand, plus when shooting these types of pistols, you need to relax your wrist somewhat to absorb recoil. Mare's Legs are heavier than a typical pistol — especially in this case, the Henry Repeating Arms Mare's Leg Model H006MML ($975), which at nearly six pounds took some muscling to aim and fire one-handed. Using two hands on the Henry or the Rossi Ranch Hand Model RH92-51121 ($597) offered more stability, with one hand on the forend and one on the grip. We even tried shooting the pistols using a one-point Blackhawk Storm Sling (70GS12BK, $34), like you might use to shoot an AR pistol. Using a two-hand hold to pull the pistol away from our body, the sling acts like a brace for more stability. So equipped, we found these pistols shone as hip-shooting designs, lightning fast but with accuracy leaving something to be desired. Many testers with lever-action rifle experience found themselves trying to shoulder the weapon, but that is not comfortable or really doable since shouldering and then levering the action would cause the bolt to come back and poke you in the eye. Suffice it to say you can shoot a Mare's Leg with one hand, but you need to use two hands to operate the pistol. Also, in case you were wondering, these are not NFA-controlled short-barreled rifles, which require payment of $200 for a tax stamp, approval from the BATFE and federal registration. A lever-action pistol is treated as a pistol by federal law, and most states allow the purchase of Mare's Leg pistols. However, California and New York have banned them. We tested these pistols using the supplied iron sights and 38 Special and 357 Magnum ammo. Here's what we found.

The Ruger 10/22 rifle is the most customizable semi-automatic rimfire rifle on the market. In fact, some manufacturers have taken 10/22 rifles and radically converted them to make highly accurate target rifles or built in internally-suppressed barrels for low-noise shooting. Some have molded shells to make the 10/22 look like an M1 Carbine or a Thompson submachine gun, while others have made them into pistols, as this test recognizes. By reconfiguring the buttstock into a pistol grip and reducing the barrel length, the same receiver is used to create an entirely different class of pistol. We wanted to take a look at these pistols, two derived from a Ruger 10/22 and one from the Mossberg 702 Plinkster, to see what they offered other than just an abbreviated variant of a long gun.

We secured a slightly used model of Magnum Research's Picuda that was mounted with a fixed 4x-power Leupold scope (#58750; $440). Ruger debuted its own 10/22 pistol in 2008, calling it the Charger, and ended production in 2012 — only to reintroduce a revised variant in 2015. The original Ruger Charger was very similar in appearance to the Magnum Research Picuda, while this new Ruger 22 Charger we tested is more refined, with plenty of features to like. Mossberg's 715P pistol came out in 2014. While the Magnum Research and Ruger are similar since they share a similar operating system, their design appeals to shooters and hunters who desire precision shooting, while the Mossberg is made to satisfy plinkers.

All three pistols use a simple blowback mechanism that is the same mechanism as used in the rifle. The pistols look ungainly since they use the same receivers as the rifles. The barrels, however, are cut down in all three models. The Magnum Research and Ruger reconfigured the rifle stock to a pistol grip sans buttstock. Though the Ruger and Magnum Research grip/stock were similar, the Ruger offered more options, so a shooter can set up the pistol to suit his shooting needs.

To make the 715P, Mossberg basically takes a 702 barreled action and sandwiches it between two polymer halves to give the pistol the appearance of an AR-15 pistol. The similarity to an AR pistol is only cosmetic, as the 715P functions just like the 702. Consider it a sheep in wolves' clothing. The Charger 22 and Picuda come optics ready, requiring a user to invest in a optic and rings. A Weaver rail is built into the Magnum Research pistol, while the Ruger comes with a Picatinny rail screwed into to the receiver. We mounted a BSA Edge 2-7x32mm pistol scope (#PS27X32; $140) on the Ruger. The Mossberg has open sights and is good to go out of the box, but to keep the playing field relatively level we added a CenterPoint Tactical 30mm Enclosed Reflex red-dot optic (Model #72601; $30). Mossberg offers a red-dot sight as an option on other 715P models. The CenterPoint optic co-witnessed with the top quarter of the iron sights on the 715P, which we liked. The rail on the Mossberg looks like a Picatinny/Weaver style, but it is not, as we discovered when mounting the CenterPoint Tactical red dot. Here's more about what we discovered about these rimfire rifles converted to pistols.

New 380 ACP pistols are probably responsible for the ammunition shortage in 380 ACP — our friends at the gun shops tell us that these pistols are selling fast, and with every sale, customers purchase two to four boxes of ammunition. This time, we look at the breakthrough design of the Taurus Curve, so named because its handle is made to curve and conform to the body, as long as you are right handed. Ruger has offered a number of limited editions of the LCP in the past, but for the most part, they were simply a different finish or displayed some type of logo. The new LCP Custom pistol, however, features a vastly improved trigger similar to the RTK Sweet Pea triggers many of us added to the original LCP, and the design is considerably different as well.

Walther's new PPQ in 45 ACP is the first true production Walther in that chambering in the company's history, Walther says. The gun is equipped with the Carl Walther quick defense trigger, traditional front and rear slide serrations, and ambidextrous controls like other PPQs. The PPQ 45 Auto will hit the market and be available in retail stores on October 1, 2015.

Cyndi Flannigan, Walther Arms' vice president of sales and marketing, says of the new pistol, "This new caliber and product offering is a benchmark for Walther and the PPQ. We have built it to the same exact German standards that have made this model so well received, and it is a superior choice for home defense and personal protection." We'll soon see about that.