Recreational

Gun Test’s Idaho test team has spent a lot of time looking at relatively tiny 9mm handguns over the past year. They have found there are a few good designs that permit the use of some relatively hot ammo in the small 9mm packages. But some people want still more power, so the Sr. Technical Editor Ray Ordorica and the magazine’s test team decided to sample a few of the smaller forties out there.

In this test we looked at four different polymer handguns that offer higher round capacity but take up less space than full-size models. Our first pistol, the $503 Taurus PT24/7 Pro 45-BP-12 could be considered a true compact, especially when compared to Taurus's new OSS pistol. The Springfield Armory XD45 4-inch Compact XD9645HCSP06, $589; and the Springfield Armory XD45 5-inch Compact Tactical XD9655HCSP06, $619, have undergone the Colt Officers treatment, receiving a shortened grip frame attached to a full-length slide. The $637 Glock SF21 is a remodeling of the Glock 21, but the SF21 does not seem to be much smaller. We wanted to find out if any of its subtle streamlining added up to a better pistol than the original.

The ACULON A211 binocular officially launches Nikon’s all-new ACULON optics family to the world, with seven fixed-power and two zoom models.

TriStar Arms, known primarily as a manufacturer of shotguns, will add several pistols for personal defense and target shooting in 2013.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, joined a chorus of skeptics who questioned President Barack Obama's recent comments about his hobby of skeet shooting.

Laser sights on pistols are not a novelty anymore. They can be useful to aim a pistol that might not or cannot be aimed using open sights, like shooting from the ground, through small openings, or most any other situation where the iron sights cannot be aligned between the shooter or the target. Scan the used-handgun case at a gun shop, and more than likely you’ll find a rig that the former owner customized with a laser sight. In the new-pistol case, you will also see factory-fitted laser sights on handguns. Gun Tests magazine's shooters were interested in how factory-fitted lasersights would affect their judgment of three previously tested 380 ACP pistols, the Ruger LCP, SIG’s P238, and Walther’s PK380. The Ruger earned an A- grade in the June 2008, and the SIG notched an A- in the June 2010 issue, and the Walther got a B-, also in the June 2010 issue.

To see if today’s rifle shooters really are being treated to superior accuracy at a bargain price, Gun Tests evaluated two synthetic-stocked rifles from Ruger and Mossberg in 243 Winchester in the February 2013 issue. The test rifles were the $449 Ruger American and the $471 Mossberg 4X4. Both rifles are lightweight hunting models fitted with black synthetic stocks, matching blued barrels with recessed crowns, pre-mounted two-piece scope bases, sling attachments front and rear, rubber buttpads, and removable box magazines.

For a test of vintage bolt-action 22 rifles in the February 2013 issue, Gun Tests had the loan of two old-timers, a Remington Nylon 12 and a Winchester Model 69A. Are these old rifles worth looking into?

Benelli’s super-lightweight shotguns, the Ultralight line, are touted as being the lightest semi-automatic shotguns in production. Because a lighter gun does not always leave a shooter happy after a long day in the field or an afternoon shooting sporting clays, there are good reasons why shooters would prefer a heavier classic model, such as a favorite of many shooters, the Remington Model 1100. The Model 1100 was first manufactured in 1963, and with more than 50 years of production under its belt, it has earned seniority over newcomers like the Ultralight. But, because age is just a number and the new challenges the old every day, Gun Tests’ shooters wanted to see for themselves which gun they would buy. So, for a test in the February 2013 issue, Winkle’s Great Guns supplied a Benelli Ultralight Model No. 10802 12 Gauge, $1649; and Remington Model 1100 Sporting No. 25315, $1211, for this showdown. Here’s what Gun Tests found.

A good polishing job can save a gun from the junk heap, but a bad job can send it there. Here's how the professional does it.

A fired 12-gauge shotgun shell unleashes a column of shot from a shotgun barrel at about 1,200 feet per second – too fast for the human eye to see the pellets in flight. This can make it extremely difficult to master the correct lead on flying clay targets or game birds. What if that changed? What if it was possible to track the flight of the shot string? Thanks to Winchester Ammunition, it’s happening in 2013.

Leica Sport Optics new Geovid HD-B laser rangefinder binoculars contain advanced ballistics technology enabling users to add/create their own custom ballistics info for individual rifles as well as ranging abilities.