Guns Magazine articles from April 2009

Guns Magazine archives from April 2009

Happy anniversary!(CROSSFIRE: LETTERS TO GUNS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... The staff here at GUNS Magazine and FMG Publications would like to publicly send hale and hearty best wishes on John and Dot Taffin's 50th Wedding Anniversary occurring on 2/20/2009! Congratulations to you both!--Jeff John, editor ...

Someday.(CROSSFIRE: LETTERS TO GUNS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I was very interested in "Someday" by John Taffin in the January 2009 issue since my Dad gave me a similar Mossberg bolt-action rifle in 1960 on my 12th Birthday. I am not sure how old the rifle is since it was bought at a pawnshop in Waco,...

Wickliffe.(CROSSFIRE: LETTERS TO GUNS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I found the article on the Wickliffe rifle of the 1970s in the January issue to be very interesting especially since the interest in single shot rifles is coming back. The author, Mr. Johnson, did a good job describing the history of the rifle....

Picture grips.(CROSSFIRE: LETTERS TO GUNS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I was reading David Codrea's "Rights Watch" column in the January issue and I was reminded of my own father. My father also purchased a 1911 in 1942 prior to being deployed to the Pacific. Sometime after his arrival in Philippines he got his...

Hunter paradise: Anticosti Island.(RIFLEMAN)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Anticosti Island is part of the province of Quebec, Canada, located just where the St. Lawrence River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. (Anticosti translates roughly as "before the coast.") Anticosti is a big island,...

Other guns: some more top choices in defensive handguns.(RANGING SHOTS[TM])
April 1, 2009... I often write about 1911 pistols and revolvers as they are two of my personal favorite handgun platforms and, contrary to what might be popular belief, I do actually shoot some other kinds of handguns. I mostly shoot other guns to broaden my...

Primers: where the boom starts.(UP on ARS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Primer problems are well known and known well, and the primary manifestation is what I guess we could call containment. Specifically, primer structural failures...

Advantage sights: a new handgun sighting concept offers promise.(HANDGUNS)
April 1, 2009... All sorts of gunsight concepts come and go. They promise super speed, surgical accuracy or even both. Some deliver, some don't. Now comes Advantage Tactical, a sighting concept patented by Richard Nasef. He and his partner in Wren Tech...

The green scene: Bis is back! Hello, GreenLite and ITX, but .410 steel?(SHOTGUNNER)
April 1, 2009... We may gnash our teeth at non-toxic shotgun ammunition requirements, but there's a plus side to the struggle. Since 1991, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service ended the use of lead shot for migratory waterfowl hunting, shotgun and shotgun...

The 4-to-1 rule: do the math.(HANDLOADING)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some years ago another magazine ran an article about elk rifles. The author bragged up the .35 Whelen Improved, claiming it was a vastly superior elk cartridge. How he knew this is a puzzle, because he maybe took...

John Moses Browning, genius: the master's works survive and thrive.(MONTANA MUSINGS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Has there ever been another firearms inventor/designer as prolific as John Moses Browning? Especially in regards to such diversity in the firearms he created? His career spanned about a half-century, beginning with a...

Czechoslovakia's Skorpion: the rattle's gone, but the cachet is there.(SURPLUS LOCKER[TM])
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the most exotic machine pistols ever to hit the streets was the Czech Skorpion. It was a legitimate, Czech Army issued small arm, but it quickly acquired an infamous reputation in the hands of state security...

Hi-point Model JHP: a cheap and reliable .45 ACP. What's not to like?(OUT of the BOX[TM])
April 1, 2009... I like .45s! When I started shooting in the mid-1950s the cheapest guns available were military surplus .45s. The Smith & Wesson and Colt double action 1917s and the Colt Government Model were all readily available for $15 apiece or less and a...

EAA Model 88: this Zastava-built 9mm looks like the Tokarev, but has some modern touches.(OUT of the BOX[TM])
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Zastava Arms, a subsidiary of the Yugoslav (now Serbian) industrial giant is noted for applying creative morphology to time-proven designs and using traditional 20th century manufacturing...

Steyr M1895 8x50R.(QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS)
April 1, 2009... Q: The article by Mr. Sheehan in the January issue was a well-researched history of the M1895 Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher. I just wish there was something on the cartridge itself, as it is an interesting atypical 8mm (.328"), which would be of...

Unsafely rechambered?(QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS)
April 1, 2009... Q: Several years back, I purchased a Hopkins & Allen revolver in .38 S&W at auction. It has a 1902 patent date and no visible serial number. It seems to be in sound mechanical condition. The cylinder is tight and indexes positively. Later,...

My wife's guns: I thought some were mine, but I was wrong.
April 1, 2009... My wife has her own guns. It's not a large assortment, but a varied one and with nary a junker in the bunch by our standards. When we were married way back in 1978, Yvonne was a young Missouri farm girl. Her family had a few guns around but...

Stag arms leads the way in modern day AR rifles.(PORTABLE PRECISION)
April 1, 2009... If you had predicted in 1964 that 45 years later the M16 would still be the US service rifle, adopted by the armed forces of many other countries, outlasting such fabled rifles as the M14, FAL, G3, and AK-47, most people would have thought...

Full auto fun with softies: the Mini-Uzi and AKS-74U.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As the popularity of airsoft guns grows so does the variety and versatility of the softie models available on the US market. Here we take a peek at a couple of highly sophisticated airsoft guns employing two very...

Return of the .257 Roberts: two "Bobs" from Kimber.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the most popular cartridges chambered custom hunting rifles is the .257 Roberts or "Bob" as it is often called. Rifle builder Charlie Sisk told me he builds just as many rifles in .257 Roberts as he does .270...

Prairie dog report: it's time to thin Dogtown.
April 1, 2009... Each spring a significant number of shooters temporarily assemble at scattered locations on the High Plains. In recent years some of these meetings have been called The Raptor Support Society or The Rodent Aeronautics Board. These are...

Rights watch: the message of Mumbai.(VIEWS NEWS AND REVIEWS)
April 1, 2009... Every time I submit a column based on a breaking news story, I offer the same caveat: Magazines, where months pass between the writing and the reading, are less than ideal places to discuss unfolding events. That said, while new details will...

Tough road.(VIEWS NEWS AND REVIEWS)
April 1, 2009... For the second time in less than a month, the forces of ISAF, the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) led a joint operation in the southern half of the Uzbin Valley, Afghanistan, under the command of General...

Cunard's glass powder vials.(QUARTERMASTER)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There once was a time when gentlemen wore coats and ties to the range and brought with them a small chest of pre-weighed charges of black powder neatly stored and labeled in thin glass vials topped off with a cork....

CorBon non toxic .223.
April 1, 2009... Always the innovators, the CorBon, Glaser, Power Ball from the Peter Pi family with the always-able assistance of Mike Shovel have brought another new product to the ammunition marketplace with their new frangible lead-free 55-grain JHP .223...

Day of the condor: fraud starts the lead ban in ammunition.(A GUNS MEDLEY)
April 1, 2009... Don't look now but there's a big dirty bird up there casting its dark shadow over our sport far beyond what its sphere of influence should be. Meet the Pleistocene-era California condor along with the typical cast of loonies who manipulate the...

The Micro Desert Eagle from Magnum Research.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The latest addition to the world-famous family of Magnum Research firearms is the 6-shot. DAO, .380 ACP Micro Desert Eagle Pistol. This splendid sidearm redefines what a compact personal protection pistol should be....

SYSTEMA Professional Training Weapon System from Centilla Corp.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... Here is a Professional Training Weapon System (PTW) ideal and safe for Close Quarters. Force-on-Force training. SYSTEMA PTW provides the illusion of a real weapon without the dangers of injury or death The PTW family of products are the most...

New .40 S&W SinterFire Ammo from Fiocchi.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... Fiocchi Ammunition introduces a new .40 S&W handgun round featuring SinterFire frangible, lead-free bullets. This new. nontoxic round is intended for the training market, with specific applications for use at indoor shooting ranges,...

Home & Away Protection Kit from Security Equipment Corporation.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... Aggravated assaults take place every 36 seconds burglaries every 14.5 (National Crime Prevention Council). Americans live in an environment where crime is a serious and unfortunate reality. As assaults and burglaries are increasing, safety...

The Chuck Connors' Commemorative Rifle from Legacy Sports International.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... Remember "Lucas McCain"? He could fire off a round from his specially modified Winchester in 3/10 of a second. As each episode of The Rifleman began, "McCain" would let loose 12 shots quicker than a gob of spit could hit the cuspidor. It is...

The Micro H-1 sight from Aimpoint.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... OK, this is not a brand new product. However, a significant change has been made to this excellent sight. Through a series of consultations with Aimpoint dealers, shooting industry writers, and consumer focus groups regarding the features of...

Operator Grade Tactical Pants from EOTAC.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The new Operator Grade Tactical Pants from OETAC are the most versatile and durable mission ready pants available. Using the proprietary Tacti-Fit sizing system, the EOTAC pants are designed around the end user. The...

The B873 holster from Gould & Goodrich.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2009... Offered for a variety of weapons with a Streamlight M3, M6 or TLR-1 or TLR-2 attached, this holster features a dual use belt mounting system that will accommodate belts up to 1-3/4" wide. Dual belt slots allow for strongside, forward cant, or...

"Why do you carry a gun?" Best of John Connor from July/August 2005 American Handgunner.(ODD ANGRY SHOT)
April 1, 2009... If I had a nickel for every time I've been asked that question, I'd have, uh... as many guns as his firearm-festooned Editorial Immenseness, Roy-Boy. It's been asked of me by all flavors of folks in all slices of society, with attitudes and...

The learning never stops.(CAMPFIRE TALES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I have often spoken of what a wonderful growing-up time the 1950s were. Those who experienced it understand completely. Those who came later may easily think the time period has been excessively glorified and really...