Handguns

The Texas Department of Public Safety has begun an investigation into a central-Texas concealed-carry-instructor who said in a recent radio advertisement that he wouldn’t teach the handgun course to a “socialist liberal,” people who voted for the “current campaigner-in-chief,” or to a “non-Christian Arab or Moslem.”

In March 2005 we looked at the FN FiveseveN IOM model pistol (hereafter referred to as the 5.7). At the time, there was nothing else on the market to compare it to, so Contributing Editor Roger Eckstine covered it as a one-gun "Range Bag" report. In that review, he said, "Designed as a companion to the FN P90 Submachine gun, the FN Five Seven pistol is a lightweight polymer pistol chambered for 5.728mm ammunition. The 5.728mm round features a necked-down case similar to but smaller than the 223 Remington round…." That report continued, "Initially, sales of the Five Seven pistol were intended to be limited to military and law-enforcement [IMGCAP(1)]personnel because the 5.728mm ammunition is available with armor-piercing bullets. However, the FN Five Seven pistol is now available to civilians.

"We loaded our 10-round magazines with the FN-supplied 31-grain open-tipped FMJ rounds and headed to the range. We found the FN Five Seven to be a very lightweight pistol, weighing only 21 ounces unloaded. To house the overall length of the rounds, the grip was longer front to back than those found on most pistols, making it a little harder to connect the hands when using a two-hand grip. Right-handed shooters had to work a little harder to get their thumbs around to press the magazine release. In fact, the safety release and the slide-release levers were in opposite positions from what we are used to. The slide release was to the rear, and the ambidextrous thumb safety was located above the trigger so that the shooter had to use the weak-hand thumb or trigger finger to operate the safety. All levers were polymer, just like the frame and top-end shroud."

And the money graf from the original report: "Buy It. We're not entirely settled on the fight-stopping capability of the civilian-issue 5.728mm ball ammunition, but we feel FN did an excellent job of bringing together design features such as a fine trigger, manual safety, a first-class accessory rail, ease of maintenance, and foolproof accuracy in an ultra-lightweight package."

Well, that was then, and this is now. In the last year, Kel-Tec CNC Industries of Cocoa, Florida, has brought out the PMR-30, chambered in 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, a gun influenced by Swedish designer and Kel-Tec founder George Kellgren's Grendel P30 22 Magnum autoloader. But even the P30 was predated by earlier 22 WMR autoloaders by AMT (the AutoMag II is now made by High Standard) and Excel Industries (MP-22, www.ExcelArms.com). All in, the PMR-30 is slightly lighter than the 5.7, and it has a 30-round magazine, 10 more than the FN's 20-rounder. They both fire 40-grain projectiles of nearly the same diameter, but at different velocities. Before we get to the guns, let's examine how the cartridges compare.

Heizer Defense LLC, a new firearms company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, has introduced the DoubleTap tactical pocket pistol built on a titanium or aluminum frame.

The concept of a revolver chambered for 45 ACP goes back to WWI, when Colt and Smith & Wesson brought out their Model 1917s to fire the semiautomatic-pistol cartridge through the use of half-moon clips. With the more recent introduction of full-moon clips, these six-shot revolvers can be reloaded very quickly as long as you have a supply of loaded clips. The original S&W Model 1917 had a detent to hold the cylinder fully open, which helped expedite the reloading process. Recently, revolver maestro Jerry Miculek proved just how fast a 45 revolver can be reloaded. He fired six shots from his gun, dumped the empties, reloaded, and fired six more—all in less than three seconds.

It is reasonable to expect that any pistol-evaluation piece covering 'options in self defense' would focus on a range of semi-automatics that combine power with portability. In one such test, Gun Tests magazine chose to review the $1059 Kimber Stainless Target .38 Super.

MasterPiece Arms (MPA) Defender series of Pistols has been tested and has met with all of the State of California’s requirements on the sale and ownership of a single-shot pistol.

(GunReports.com) -- PARA USA announced today that it was exiting the rifle market to concentrate on its core competency in handguns. CEO Thanos Polyzos said, “PARA has some exciting new projects in development that will continue the innovation that we started with the high capacity P14-45 pistol. We want to bring these exciting new major caliber handguns to the firearms market and we need to focus our attention on them.”

The 10mm pistol cartridge was developed to fill the gap between 9mm and 45 ACP firepower. In 1989 its popularity was spurred by the FBI choosing 10mm as its favored caliber. At the time, Colt successfully chambered a 1911 for 10mm, the Colt Delta Elite. Smith & Wesson tried to adapt its line of semi-automatic pistols as well. Durability became an issue. But then pistol makers found out it was easier to increase the strength of their 9mm fleet to handle another round developed almost concurrently, the 40 S&W round, rather than tool up to withstand the more powerful 10mm rounds. We could resort to revolver jargon and refer to 10mm ammunition as 40 Magnum. That's because both 40 S&W and 10mm ammunition share the same diameter bullet, but the 10mm case is 0.140 inch longer.

Time has not quite eclipsed the standard 10mm round, but it is now decidedly less popular than the 40 S&W it sired. The big reason: the 40 S&W delivers noticeably more power than the 9mm, but the larger high-velocity round can still be packed into same frame as current 9mm pistols with little structural change.

This brings us to our current roster of test guns. The Ruger SR40 began life as a 9mm pistol, and since our test of the SR9 in the December 2007 issue, a compact version is now available in both calibers. Likewise, the roots of the Glock 23 Gen4 can be traced to the 9mm Model 19, which itself was the compact version of the G17 service pistol. The Springfield Armory XDM40 Compact is somewhat of a hybrid with characteristics of both a compact and full-size pistol. Developed from a foreign-manufacture 9mm service pistol, the XDM Compact offers a shortened grip for better concealment and a full-length 16-round magazine that includes a grip extension. Our fourth pistol is a true subcompact, and it shoots the same bullet as our other test guns but from a longer case that packs more powder. The Glock Model 29 chambers 10mm ammunition, from which 40 S&W was developed. Since the 10mm originally lost favor due in part to its recoil, we wondered how much we'd like shooting the round in such a small package as the G29.

The 10mm pistol cartridge was developed to fill the gap between 9mm and 45 ACP firepower. In 1989 its popularity was spurred by the FBI choosing 10mm as its favored caliber. At the time, Colt successfully chambered a 1911 for 10mm, the Colt Delta Elite. Smith & Wesson tried to adapt its line of semi-automatic pistols as well. Durability became an issue. But then pistol makers found out it was easier to increase the strength of their 9mm fleet to handle another round developed almost concurrently, the 40 S&W round, rather than tool up to withstand the more powerful 10mm rounds. We could resort to revolver jargon and refer to 10mm ammunition as 40 Magnum. That's because both 40 S&W and 10mm ammunition share the same diameter bullet, but the 10mm case is 0.140 inch longer.

Time has not quite eclipsed the standard 10mm round, but it is now decidedly less popular than the 40 S&W it sired. The big reason: the 40 S&W delivers noticeably more power than the 9mm, but the larger high-velocity round can still be packed into same frame as current 9mm pistols with little structural change.

This brings us to our current roster of test guns. The Ruger SR40 began life as a 9mm pistol, and since our test of the SR9 in the December 2007 issue, a compact version is now available in both calibers. Likewise, the roots of the Glock 23 Gen4 can be traced to the 9mm Model 19, which itself was the compact version of the G17 service pistol. The Springfield Armory XDM40 Compact is somewhat of a hybrid with characteristics of both a compact and full-size pistol. Developed from a foreign-manufacture 9mm service pistol, the XDM Compact offers a shortened grip for better concealment and a full-length 16-round magazine that includes a grip extension. Our fourth pistol is a true subcompact, and it shoots the same bullet as our other test guns but from a longer case that packs more powder. The Glock Model 29 chambers 10mm ammunition, from which 40 S&W was developed. Since the 10mm originally lost favor due in part to its recoil, we wondered how much we'd like shooting the round in such a small package as the G29.

Colt Defense LLC is now on Facebook. And as a way to say “‘thank you” to its customers and to encourage new enthusiasts to join the conversation, Colt is also offering a chance to win a Colt 6920 AR-15 rifle to those who visit the new page.

Glock Inc. is voluntarily exchanging the recoil spring assembly (RSA) on its new Gen4 pistols shipped since August 2009. Consumers should note that Gen4 G26 and G27 models will not require a modified recoil spring.

I. Passengers are prohibited from carrying firearms, firearm parts and ammunition Federal regulations administered by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prohibit the carriage of firearms and guns, as well as parts of firearms and guns (such as magazines or clips, bolts, firing pins, and other components), in the traveler's possession or in carry-on luggage on commercial aircraft. …