Handguns

The National Rifle Association recently sold its one millionth copy of the NRA Guide to the Basics of Pistol Shooting. Known as the Basic Pistol handbook, the guide is a comprehensive resource on responsible pistol use and is the foundation of NRA’s popular Basic Pistol and FIRST Steps Pistol Orientation courses.

American Tactical Imports, currently based in Rochester, New York, has begun relocating its operations to Summerville, SC.

For only the third time in more than 100 years, the NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships will not be held at Camp Perry, OH. Instead, the 2014 championships will move three hours west to the Chief Wa-Ke-De Range in Bristol, IN.

We tested three single-action revolvers suitable for Cowboy Action shooting in an August 2012 showdown. All chambered in the most common CAS competition caliber, 357 Magnum, the choices were the Ruger New Vaquero NV-34 No. 5107, $719; the Heritage Manufacturing Big Bore Rough Rider RR357CH4, $500; and Cimarron's Evil Roy No. ER4104, $770.

The UZI PRO semi-auto pistol designed for the American consumer market is now available. The $1100 UZI PRO UPP9S semi-auto pistol is based on the UZI sub-machine gun (SMG), designed and patented by Uziel Gal, who gave the production rights to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. IWI US, Inc., a subsidiary of Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), imports the firearm domestically.

DoubleTap Defense will add new chamberings — 410/.45 Colt and .40 S&W — to its DoubleTap Tactical Pocket Pistol lines.

Gun Tests’ Houston test team recently obtained four shoulder holsters from the company that offers more of those designs than any other maker: Galco International.

Here are new videos added to GunReports.com the week of October 25: Watch Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA demonstrate how to lap the rings on a rifle; Dianna Liedorff, member of the FNH USA shooting team, explains the 180, as well as other aspects of range etiquette; and Jerry Miculek fires armor-piercing rounds concrete blocks.…

Gun Tests’ South Carolina test team recently obtained a trio of self-defense handguns in the popular Commander-size 1911 frame size to test: the 4.25-inch-barrel SIG Sauer Carry Stainless 1911CA-45-SSS 45 ACP, $1142; and the new Ruger SR1911CMD No. 6702 45 ACP, $829. The third gun was a 4-inch-barrel aluminum-frame Kimber Pro CDP.

BrassFetcher.com has done an eye-opening comparison of the terminal effectiveness of FMJ vs JHP bullet designs from handguns chambered in 22 LR, 25 ACP, 32 ACP, 380 ACP, 9mm Makarov, 9mm Police, 38 Special, 9mm Luger, and 45 ACP.

Galco Gunleather has introduced a KingTuk tuckable IWB holster for Springfield Armory’s XD-S pistols.

When it comes to challenging a shooter nothing does so quite like a snub nose .38 or a lightweight magnum revolver. Each is light, kicks more than other revolvers and the short sight radius makes marksmanship more difficult. There are always folks looking for a shortcut to proficiency but there are no short cuts.