Handguns

The University of Colorado will not allow students to bring guns into the Boulder campus dorms this fall, though residents who have concealed-carry permits will be allowed to keep weapons in a limited number of family housing units, school officials announced.

GunBroker.com is giving away a Springfield Armory XD-S to new and existing GunBroker.com registered users.

Police in Thailand say that they will charge a member of the Thai parliament with causing death by negligence for accidentally shooting his secretary dead with a submachine gun, the BBC reports.

Charter Arms has added a new 9mm Rimless Revolver to the company’s popular Pitbull series.

GunAuction.com seller “Lock-stock-and-barrel” calls this Remington O/U Derringer chambered for .41 Rimfire the best “blue” Remington O/U derringer they have seen. The Type III, Model No. 4 two-shot top-break handgun was made between 1912 and 1935 and displays a muted blue color with no appreciable surface erosion.

Here are current 2012 shooting-event results from the London Olympic Games, with finishes for U.S. shooters.

Wild Bill had a pair. Sam Bass used one, and so did Frank James and Cole Younger. Elmer Keith liked his very much. In fact, Elmer's 1851 Navy Colt was one of his first handguns, and it undoubtedly influenced the grand old master all his life. With all this popularity Gun Tests Magazine thought it would be a good idea to inform its readers where to go to get today's best copy of the breed.

Oklahoma law enforcement officials are running behind the time limit set in state law for processing concealed-carry licenses, and LE anticipates even more requests as a result of an upcoming change to allow the open carry of weapons.

Here is a video that didn’t get national coverage because a responsible, armed, trained citizen was present and took care of a threat immediately.

In Cowboy Action Shooting, the targets are usually not especially hard to hit, but the action is very quick, which means a smooth, slick, easy-to-handle revolver gives the shooter an edge. Many shooters will want to get into the game with an "original" — a real Colt, but those sixguns are very expensive and pretty scarce, and those guns are not without their own special problems. But there are plenty of more recent choices in single-action revolvers, and we've tested quite a few. In the February 2006 issue, we called the Heritage Manufacturing Big Bore Rough Rider 45 Colt RR45B5, $379, a Best Buy when tested against a Taurus Gaucho SA45B 45 Colt, $499, which was a Don't Buy model. In March 2005, we shot three more handguns chambered in 45 LC, the Ruger New Vaquero NV-455 No. 5101, $583; Beretta's Stampede JEA1501, $540; and a retest of Cabela's Millennium revolver, $280, with brass frame. We said the Millennium was a Best Buy, followed by the Stampede with a Buy It recommendation, and a Conditional Buy grade for the New Vaquero, which skipped two of the cylinders. In July 2003, we tested four more 45 Colt single actions, saying "Buy It" for the American Western Arms Peacekeeper, $835, and the Uberti Regulator, about $400. A Colt Single Action Army, about $1,700, got a Conditional Buy recommendation for its cost and troublesome operation. Our Pick of the test was a USFA Mfg. Co. Rodeo, about $500. More 45 Colts were tested in April 2001, with Cabela's Millennium Revolver, $200, earning a Best Buy nod over a 1907 Colt SAA, about $1,500; and Ruger's Bisley Vaquero, $450 (both Conditional Buys).

Many of these guns were interesting because they're chambered in the more traditional 45 Long Colt, originally released in the blackpowder cartridge era of 1873-1890. Today, however, low-recoil loads help you go faster in SASS, and if your revolvers shoot 357 Magnums, you can buy a lever gun in the same caliber and shoot the same low-powder loads without having to worry about inserting the wrong shell. Way back in May 2000, we did test three "cowboy concealable" revolvers chambered for 357 Magnum, the EMF Hartford Sheriff's Model ($365, Don't Buy); the Cimarron New Sheriff ($469, Don't Buy), and the Cimarron Thunderer ($489, Conditional Buy). It was far past time to update the smaller-bore single-action revolvers suitable for CAS, so we chose two reproduction Colts and Ruger's New Vaquero, all chambered in the most common CAS competition caliber, 357 Magnum. Our 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 Heritage and the Cimarron revolvers stayed true to the look of the Colt, with case-hardened frames and wood grips. The Ruger had a few modern innovations under the skin, as well as modern-looking black plastic grips and stainless screws. The overall sizes and weights were similar, with the major difference being the 5.5-inch barrel on the Cimarron Evil Roy, compared to the 4.6-inch-long barrel on the Ruger and the Heritage Rough Rider's 4.75-inch barrel.

We tested all three for function and accuracy, shooting bench groups at 10 yards using a sandbag rest and two modern loads and one cowboy-action load. Though we looked at these guns first for their viability as fun guns being shot at the Big Hat Range, we also wanted to see how they'd handle contemporary rounds if pressed into other duties, such as self protection, plinking, or small-game hunting. The modern selections were Winchester USA's WinClean 357 Magnum 125-grain load and the company's 38 Special +P 125-grain choice. The cowboy action load was Black Hills Ammunition 38 Special Cowboy Action choice, with a 158-grain cast lead bullet. Here's how our contestants fared:

After reading the test of .410-bore shotshells adjacent, shooters may wonder what guns are good choices to shoot the small-gauge self-defense rounds. While we can't attest to how a given gun will work with a given shell, we can recommend some firearms that generally suit the .410 shotshell in home-defense situations.

About a year ago, Ray Ordorica compared two handguns chambered for the .410 shotshell, the S&W Governor 45 ACP, 45 LC, 410/2.5-inch, $679; and the Taurus Judge Model 4510TKR-3BUL 45 LC/410 2.5-inch, $620. We learned back then that these handguns performed better with smaller shot. Ray first patterned the Gov at 3 yards, which gave a pattern with Winchester Super-X No. 7.5 shot that fit onto a sheet of 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper. At 5 yards from the muzzle, the pattern with the Governor spread to about 18 inches. This was far superior to what we got with shot loads from the Judge, he reported, which would spread to about a foot at only 3 feet. The same held true with the #4 shot. The Governor's pattern slightly overlapped a sheet of paper with a spotty pattern fired from 9 feet, but at that same range the Judge barely struck the paper. At 15 feet, the pattern differences were astounding. The Smith Governor put all its shot into a 17-inch circle. The Judge put its shot into a 34-inch circle, twice the diameter. The Judge's pattern had many holes, but the Governor's pattern was even, and quite impressive. The shotshell results very much favored the Smith & Wesson.

With 000 buck from 20 feet, the results from both guns were spotty. He concluded the maximum range for 000 buck is about 20 feet.

An Atlanta federal appeals court has rejected a minister's argument that gun carriers have a constitutional right to bring sidearms to worship services. The ruling upholds Georgia's 2010 law that bans guns in churches, synagogues and mosques.