Specialty Handguns

In the course of a typical day's gunsmithing, I test fire at least three weapons for such things as inconsistent primer ignition, failure to feed properly, and sear disengagement. With the cost of commercial bullet traps somewhere in the stratosphere, I had no choice but to make my own to keep costs down. My indoor trap, which I use for pistols and rimfire rifles, cost less than $25 to build. Even if you use brand new materials, it should cost less than $100.

The SIS Custom RL came with night sights. The rear unit, windage adjustable via drift, was mounted in a dovetail aligning its rear face precisely with the back of the slide for maximum sight radius. Its forward edge presented a vertical surface reaching about 0.2 inches upwards from the top of the slide. This was to provide a catch point on one’s belt or other edge in case the slide needed to be racked without using two hands. Today’s pistols commonly feature a rear sight with a ramped profile front to back. The ramped profile is much less likely to snag clothing than a tall and sharp sight blade. But if the slide must be racked and the support hand is not available, the operator might wish for the sharp edge of the old-style rear sight. Kimber’s SIS-style rear sight meets this need without the worry of hanging up on the inside of a jacket or shirt.

There will always be a need to identify chamberings of firearms that have been inherited or bought at yard sales. The lure of buying for bottom dollar and discovering a real jewel is ingrained in most of us, so a little thing like no chambering marks on a rifle or handgun is no deterrent to a gun fancier.

The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) announced that O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc., will be one of the major sponsors of the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championship. The 2013 Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championship will take place February 21-23 on the indoor ranges of the Smith & Wesson Shooting Sports Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

You'd be surprised how many people view the shooting teams as a good old boys club. They have no idea of the benefit and skill these Soldier-shooters are bringing to the Army Reserve. It's like accusing an NFL team of being nothing more than a group of drinking buddies that play catch on Sunday afternoon. Outsiders to US Army Reserve Shooting Team fail to understand why such a team exists. Unless one has been involved in small arms training or higher level shooting activity, marksmanship experience is typically limited to basic qualification. Just as retaking the same elementary arithmetic test will never teach Calculus, marksmen need to evolve to gain proficiency. Shooting teams were established in enact this and provide other benefits as well.

Austin Miller, contributing editor for Gun Tests magazine and a contributor to GunReports.com, and video producer J.T. Woodard travel to Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas, to begin testing a unusual trio of handguns for an upcoming issue of Gun Tests.

If you’re looking for a good Cowboy Action “Wild Bunch” pistol or just a durable 45 ACP, Springfield Armory’s Model 1911 GI is worth a look. These are made to look and feel exactly like the classic WWII G.I. Colt 1911s.

Washington, D.C., Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has introduced legislation that would allow prosecutors to offer 'administrative dispositions' to nonresidents accused of possessing unregistered firearms or ammunition, allowing them to avoid criminal convictions.

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.

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.

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.