Viewpoints

Every December Gun Tests Magazine picks the best from a full year’s worth of tests and distills summary recommendations for readers, who often use them as year-end shopping guides. These “best of” choices are a mixture of the Gun Tests original evaluation and other information the staff compiles during the year.Additionally, the magazine selects the best type of firearm--pistol, revolver, shotgun, and rifle--for its “Best in Class” award.The “Best in Class” Revolver for 2009 was the Taurus Judge No. 4510TKR-3BUL 3-Inch 45 LC/410-Bore, $620. It was originally reviewed in the August 2009 issue.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--An innocuous story posted on GunReports.com on August 22 wound up on dozens of websites and YouTube videos last week as hundreds of gunowners publicly worried that the U.S. Government was planning to use 200 million rounds of 40-caliber ammunition to subdue its citizens.

Michael Bellesiles published in 2000 Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture. Bellesiles, a tenured professor at Emory University, argued that the American culture of gun ownership grew not from the fight by American pioneers for individual liberty but an early-American Congressional mandate necessitated by the actual absence both of firearms and Americans’ proficiency with them.

Now this is funny. Santa and his Texas whitetail sleigh.

The BFR 22H10, code name Little Max in the Magnum Research brochure, is a single action only gun. To load the BFR you first open the loading gate. No manipulation of the hammer is needed to free the cylinder. Much like the Ruger single-action revolvers, the hammer stays safely in a down position.

The BFR strikes a chord. We would have to rate the workmanship of the BFR superior to the Taurus. We recommend it if you need a hunting iron without the recoil of the harder hitting calibers meant for bears and large game.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Chris Cassidy, assistant director of communications at the American Constitution Society, posted a short item about how women's groups lobbying for abortion may wind up supporting gun-owners' rights in the McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case. He wrote:

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER 2007) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2007 is the latest data available.

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER 2007) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2007 is the latest data available.

Regarding Joe Meyer’s letter about extractor failures in the Springfield XD/XDM, I obtained a 40-cal. XDM in February and used it to shoot Practical pistol all this season. I estimate I’ve put about 3,000 rounds through it with a total of two failures to feed, both apparently ammo-related and both quickly cleared. I cannot speak for any other XD/XDM owners, but I would say that any rumors of extractor failure with these pistols are just that, rumors.

Regarding Joe Meyer’s letter about extractor failures in the Springfield XD/XDM, I obtained a 40-cal. XDM in February and used it to shoot Practical pistol all this season. I estimate I’ve put about 3,000 rounds through it with a total of two failures to feed, both apparently ammo-related and both quickly cleared. I cannot speak for any other XD/XDM owners, but I would say that any rumors of extractor failure with these pistols are just that, rumors.

“Shouldn't an army base be the last place where a terrorist should be able to shoot at people uninterrupted for 10 minutes? After all, an army base is filled with soldiers who carry guns, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Beginning in March 1993, under the Clinton administration, the army forbids military personnel from carrying their own personal firearms and mandates that 'a credible and specific threat against [Department of the Army] personnel [exist] in that region' before military personnel 'may be authorized to carry firearms for personal protection.'

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The United States Senate recently approved the FY2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Conference Report, which included an amendment to protect the use of pocketknives.