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 CONTENTS
APRIL/MAY 2016 | VOLUME 30, NUMBER 2 | PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY | www.handguns.com

FEATURES
30 WAVE THE FLAG
By JAMES TARR
While Ruger semiautomatic pistols have come a long way in recent
years, it still didn’t have what many would consider a true duty pistol.
That’s all changed with the new American. 30
HOLLYWOOD’S 42
42 HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST HANDGUNS GREATEST HANDGUNS BY BRAD FITZPATRICK

By BRAD FITZPATRICK THE BILL RUGER COLLECTION AT THE NRA MUSEUM

HOUSES SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC HANDGUNS IN
FILM AND TELEVISION HISTORY.

S
ome of the greatest icons in film and televi-
sion history aren’t actors. Instead, they’re the
clothes, cars and equipment that have come to

Ten handguns that took starring turns in some of Hollywood’s most

help define familiar characters. Indiana Jones
had his whip and signature fedora hat, Thomas
Magnum his floral shirt and Ferrari 308. And some of
the most recognizable and most celebrated treasures
in cinematic history are firearms, particularly hand-
guns. “Dirty” Harry Callahan’s challenge to an unlucky
punk would have been far less daunting had Callahan
been brandishing a can of pepper spray instead of a .44
Magnum.

iconic (to us anyway) films and television shows.

The NRA’s William B. Ruger Collection at the NRA
headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, is a trove of Holly-
wood’s most famous firearms—from the Colt .32 Police
used in the 1935 film “The Thin Man” to the massive
Smith &Wesson Model 500 Samuel L. Jackson carried
in 2008’s “The Spirit.” Most of these guns are loan from
actors, film companies, gun wranglers or private collec-
tors, and all have a special place in history.
Here’s a look at ten iconic handguns from that collec-
tion. Each one helped communicate a story in televi-
sion or on film, and each has its own tale to tell.

“Magnum, P.I.” (1980-88):

Colt Mark IV Series 70 9mm
From 1980 until 1988, Tom Selleck played the role of
Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum.
The Magnum character’s sidearm of choice was a Colt
Mark IV Series 70, a gun that is faithful to the Govern-

42 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM WWW.HANDGUNS.COM OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 HANDGUNS 55

50 SUPER STINGER
By PATRICK SWEENEY
Les Baer Custom’s 1911 GT Monolith Stinger combines the carryability
of an Officer’s grip and Commander barrel, along with the legit capabil-
ity of the .38 Super round, to create a kick-ass carry gun.

50
56 LEGION OF MERIT
By JAMES TARR
Many of the modifications serious pistol shooters have been doing to
their SIG pistols are now found in the new Legion series—at a fraction
of the cost of custom work—and with added perks for buyers.

56
DEPARTMENTS
4 LETTERS 22 ON PATROL
8 SPEEDLOADS
DAVE SPAULDING
Tips on clearing the double FIRING LINE
• Legal deadly force
• Triple 6 Drill
feed jam.

26 ESSENTIALS
REPORTS
14 AMMO SHELF JAMES TARR 64 HECKLER & KOCH
PATRICK SWEENEY
Ruger’s ARX defensive ammo.
LaserMax’s Spartan, a well-
designed and affordable laser,
P30SK
By JAMES TARR
plus SIG’s new air pistols.
18 GUNS & GEAR 72 GUN SENSE 66 AMERICAN
20 DEFENSIVE TACTICS RICHARD NANCE CLASSIC 1911
When it comes to stopping an By PAUL SCARLATA
WALT RAUCH
attack, shot placement is key.
How to prepare for an attack
coming from an angle. 64 T/C G2
CONTENDER
2 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 By STAN TRZONIEC
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 | LETTERS
Bucket List CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jeff Paro
EVP, GROUP PUBLISHER,
I was immensely gratified HUNTING & SHOOTING
to read the bucket list arti- Mike Carney

cle in the February/March SENIOR VP, TV OPERATIONS

GROUP PUBLISHER, FISHING
issue (“Speedloads”). Your Steve Hoffman
magazine carries articles VP, FINANCE & OPERATIONS
Derek Sevcik
on the latest and great-
VP, CONSUMER MARKETING
est, which almost always Peter Watt
means auto pistols, but VP, MANUFACTURING
Deb Daniels
I love revolvers. When
VP, CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
you have an article on a Todd Smith
revolver, that’s what I turn SENIOR DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION
Connie Mendoza
to first. They are timeless, beautiful
The Price Ain’t Right DIRECTOR, PUBLISHING TECHNOLOGY
machines. Kyle Morgan
I have been moderately success-
lee l angenmayr
ful in life—not at the level of afflu- OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN DIGITAL
OGDENSBURG, NY DIRECTOR, DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT
ent but not living paycheck to pay- Berry Blanton
check, either. However, I believe DIRECTOR, DIGITAL AD OPS
Slide Issues Reggie Hudson
you guys just don’t get it: A pistol
In regards to the problems the let- MANAGER, DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT
over $500 or $600 is a lot of money Brock Norman
ter writer had last issue regarding
to most of us! For instance, I’d love EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, FISHING
racking his Glock 42 slide: Vick- Jeff Simpson
to consider the Colt 1903 remake,
ers Tactical sells a “tactical slide EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, HUNTING/SHOOTING
but $1,500? I could go to Gunbroker Randy Hynes
racker” for the G42. It costs less
and find a dozen originals in great FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING DIGITAL EDITIONS,
than $20, and any gunsmith can PLEASE CONTACT DIGITALSUPPORT@OUTDOORSG.COM
condition for half the price. You
install it. MEDIA
continually feature custom .45s for OUTDOORSG.COM
Jim miller
$3,500 in your articles. Why not at
SUN CITY, AZ FISHING
least some articles on guns for us BASSFAN.COM
“po” folk? FLORIDASPORTSMAN.COM

P ete Palumbo
Solid FLYFISHERMAN.COM
GAMEANDFISHMAG.COM
Walt Rauch’s “Defensive Tactics” IN-FISHERMAN.COM
TUCKERTON, NJ
column offers some of the best,
Understand where you’re coming HUNTING
most practical info available today. BOWHUNTER.COM
from, Mr. Palumbo, but we think BOWHUNTINGMAG.COM
His writings are solid and easy to
readers like to check out the pin- GUNDOGMAG.COM
understand. For instance, in the PETERSENSHUNTING.COM
nacle of the gunmaker’s art right NORTHAMERICANWHITETAIL.COM
February/March issue he wrote:
along with our reviews of affordable WILDFOWLMAG.COM
“At the range, don’t get hung up on
handguns—which, I think it’s fair SHOOTING
shooting nice groups. A hit within GUNSANDAMMO.COM
to say, are represented by the Ruger HANDGUNS.COM
a hand-size target is good enough,
American, American Classic 1911 RIFLESHOOTERMAG.COM
almost too good.” You won’t find SHOOTINGTIMES.COM
Commander, H&K P30SK and T/C SHOTGUNNEWS.COM
that kind of wisdom to be common
G2 Contender in this issue and the TELEVISION
among gun scribes.
Kahr CT40 and Remington RM380 OUTDOORCHANNEL.COM
a rthur melanson THESPORTSMANCHANNEL.COM
in the issue you’re referring to.—
AUDUBON, NJ WORLDFISHINGNETWORK.COM
Scott
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 AN OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN GROUP PUBLICATION
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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016 HANDGUNS 7
 TV
Airing on the Sportsman Channel
Mondays @ 8 p.m. ET and Tuesdays @ 5 p.m. ET

FEBRUARY

29TH
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FIVE REASONS WHY YOU NEED REVIEW:

A HANDGUN LASER
More people in the United States are carrying a
defensive pistol than ever. Here are five reasons why
concealed carry holders need a handgun laser.
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The USP 9 Tactical from Heckler & Koch was spe-
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6 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 | SPEEDLOADS | Compiled by J. SCOTT RUPP

DEADLY FORCE
WHETHER A SHOOTING IS JUSTIFIED IS OPEN TO A LOT OF INTERPRETATION.
By John Alan Cohan, attorney at law
THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE IN SELF-
defense is fraught with peril. Au-
thorities will scrutinize the action,
and you may be prosecuted for man-
slaughter or even murder. Ultimately,
a jury may decide if the self-defense
was justifiable by revisiting the facts
and circumstances of the incident.
Recently, a Florida deputy sheriff
shot and killed a man suspected in
an earlier shooting. The man had
barricaded himself inside a strang-
er’s home and, after repeated com-
mands to surrender, emerged and
pointed a black and chrome object at
the deputy. The deputy feared for his
life and fired five times. The object
turned out to be an ordinary stapler.
This is an example of justifiable
self-defense: The officer reasonably
perceived an immediate threat even
.If you use deadly force against an attacker, law enforcement and often the
<

though it did not really exist.
A homeowner in Louisiana shot
and killed a teenager who was head-
ed to a Halloween party but arrived
at the wrong address. The teen and
a friend rang the doorbell and got no
response, then walked back to their
car. The homeowner emerged with
a loaded and cocked .44 Magnum
revolver and pointed it at the teen.
The homeowner later said: “It was
a person, coming from behind the
car, moving real fast. At that point,
I pointed the gun and hollered,
‘Freeze!’ The person kept coming to-
ward me, moving very erratically. At
that time, I hollered for him to stop.
He didn’t; I remember him laughing.
I was scared to death. This person
was not gonna stop, he was gonna
do harm to me. I had no choice,” he
said, but to shoot.
The homeowner was charged with
court system are going to evaluate whether your actions were justified. Know
your laws and be aware of the legal principles that apply here.
manslaughter but was acquitted by
a jury. At the trial he was extremely
remorseful and said he and his wife
were scared to death. He testified:
“There was no thinking involved. I
wish I could have thought. If I could
have just thought.” Later, in a civil
action, the homeowner was found li-
able for wrongful death and ordered
to pay $650,000 in damages to the
teen’s parents.
Both of these incidents illustrate
the proposition that if your belief of
an imminent threat is reasonable,
the danger does not need to have ac-
tually existed. However, the Louisi-
ana case could easily have gone the
other way, as juries are notoriously
unpredictable. And as noted, the
homeowner in Louisiana was found
liable in a civil suit.
The specific rules of using deadly
force in self-defense differ among
the states. The general principles
are as follows:
1. The threat must reasonably
appear to create an immediate risk
of death or serious bodily harm to
yourself or another. This point is
often disputed in court.
2. The threat would cause a rea-
sonable person to fear immediate
and serious bodily harm to himself
or a third party.
3. The person claiming self-de-
fense is not the initial aggressor in a
fight. (Exception: if the other person
escalates the level of the threat.)
4. The force employed is propor-
tional to the level of the threat. The

8 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

use of deadly force is justified if a
reasonable person would believe
that the immediate use of deadly
force is necessary to defend against
the danger. This factor is the one
most often in contention.
The law of self-defense is based
on a use of force continuum, rang-
ing from non-deadly force to deadly
force. You are entitled to use such
force that a reasonable person
would believe is necessary in the
same situation. Some situations
may not entitle you to use deadly
force; other situations will. Ulti-
mately, if you are prosecuted, the
justification for self-defense will be
decided after the fact by a jury.
The use of deadly force by the
police is a highly volatile topic. A
Supreme Court case on this subject
is Tennessee v. Garner (1985), which
limited the “fleeing felon rule,”
holding that “deadly force…may not
be used unless necessary to pre-
vent the escape and the officer has
probable cause to believe that the
suspect poses a significant threat of
death or serious bodily harm to the
officer or others.” This case abol-
ished the long-standing practice in
which police would shoot a fleeing
felon suspect if he refused to halt,
even if he posed no immediate risk
of death or serious physical harm
to another.
Another Supreme Court case,
Graham v. Connor (1989), clarified
that reliance is made on an “objec-
tive reasonableness” standard—not
subjective, so a jury can in effect
revisit the circumstances and
decide reasonableness from the
perspective of a reasonable officer
at the scene under the particular
circumstances.
Is there a duty to retreat from the
violence if possible? The “stand your
ground” law exists in about 30 states
and says that you have no duty to
give up ground to an assailant wher-
ever you have a lawful right to be.
It means you are entitled to stand
your ground and defend yourself
and, if reasonably necessary, pur-
sue an assailant until the danger of
great bodily injury has passed. This
is so even if you safely could have
achieved this by retreating.
The “castle doctrine” exists in
most states and removes the duty
to retreat before using deadly force
against an intruder in one’s home,
car or place of business. However,
the use of deadly force against an
intruder still requires a showing
that you reasonably believed you
were in imminent danger of death
or serious bodily injury.
In general, if an act of justifiable
self-defense inadvertently injures
an innocent bystander, there is no
criminal responsibility.
The use of deadly force in self-
defense is usually a split-second de-
cision at a moment of great stress.
And it takes into account the im-
perfect knowledge of the defender.
Reasonable people might choose
differently in the same situation.
In the end, the question of
whether the manner of self-de-
fense is justifiable in the eyes of
the law is evaluated after the fact
by the police, prosecutor and ulti-
mately by a jury if you are charged
with a crime.

SUPPRESSOR UPDATE
By now most of you know there’s a lot of buzz about suppressors, which
are covered under the 1934 National Firearms Act. Currently, when an
individual submits an application to own a suppressor, the chief law en-
forcement officer in the applicant’s jurisdiction has to certify the applica-
tion. No more. When new rules take effect in July, individual applicants
<

.Suppressors have gotten so popular that Ruger has

will be required only to notify their chief law enforcement officer that the
application has been made. Background checks still apply.
There’s another route many—if not most—people use to buy a
suppressor or other NFA item: an NFA trust. This legal document, which
is available commercially from a variety of companies, permits people
named in the trust to acquire and/or use an NFA item. Applicants attach
a copy of the trust to the required NFA “tax stamp” documents. Because
it’s a document and not a person, the trust is not subject to background
checks or law enforcement certification. Further, anyone named in the
trust (your spouse, your kids) can use the NFA item, which is not the
case with an individual application. However, with the rule change, the
ATF now requires “responsible persons” on a trust to be identified, fin-
begun to manufacture its own suppressors. We’ll have
more on this particular can in a future issue.
gerprinted and background-checked. “Responsible persons” are those who
have, according to ATF, “the power and authority to direct the management
and policies of the trust…” Basically, everyone except trust beneficiaries.
Last but certainly not least, there are currently bills in Congress that
would remove suppressors as an NFA item altogether and make them a
product able to be purchased through the standard NICS background check
process. Collectively known as the Hearing Protection Act, the individual
bills are H.R. 3799 and S. 2236. At press time, both bills were in their
respective House and Senate committees.—JSR

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 9

 | SPEEDLOADS
SKILLS DRILLS | BY DAVE SPAULDING
SHOOTING
NEWS
COLT has emerged from Chapter 11
bankruptcy. The firm has been restructured
TRIPLE 6 DRILL
and has reduced its debt by about $200
million—raising $50 million in new capital
during the restructuring process. And while
other manufacturers are departing New
England for more southerly locations, Colt
entered into a long-term lease for its West
Hartford, Connecticut, facility and executed
a Memorandum of Understanding with the
United Auto Workers union, the organization
representing Colt’s work force.

A few issues ago we ran an article about

Olympic shooting and how U.S. athletes—
under the auspices of USA SHOOTING, the
sport’s U.S. governing body—were gunning
for the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics
to be held in just a few months. With the
debut of its new “Shooting is my Olympic
Sport” initiative, USA Shooting hopes to
energize the shooting community to stand
behind our athletes. Unlike other sports
shooting doesn’t get all the glitz and glam-
Alfredo Rico illustration

our coverage, and the organization hopes to

galvanize support for “One Team in 2016.”
To learn more, visit USAShooting.org today.

A few weeks after this issue goes to press,

TEXAS A&M will defend its ownership of
the Easley “Deadeye” Award. The award—
which goes to the top service/senior military
academy at the Scholastic Action Shooting
Program’s Southwest Regional—is named
for A&M grad Brig. Gen. Claudius Easley.
Easley fought in the Pacific in World War II
and earned a Legion of Merit, Purple Heart
and Silver Star before being killed in action
at Okinawa. The match will feature West
Point’s Combat Weapons Team, Navy’s
Combat Action Team and Air Force’s Cadet
Combat Shooting Team—along with A&M’s
Corp of Cadets Marksmanship Unit and
teams from other universities as well as
high school squads. All are vying for the
prestigious GLOCK trophy that goes to the
overall match winner.
THIS DRILL WAS DESIGNED BY TEAM SIG
Sauer shooter and former member
of the U.S. Army Marksmanship
Unit Max Michel and has found
great popularity with both competi-
tion and defensive pistol shooters. It
reinforces proper draw and having
the front sight arrive where you’re
looking. Recoil and trigger control
are also crucial because, at these
speeds and distances, lack thereof
will add too much time.
GEAR Gun, holster, eye/ear pro-
tection, timer, 18 rounds of ammo.
DRILL Using a single USPSA
target, draw and fire six rounds
at seven yards. Record your time.
Draw and fire six rounds at 15
yards; record time. Draw and fire
six rounds at 25 yards; record time.
SCORING Total the times, add-
ing any penalty time for hits outside
the A zone: 0.2 second penalty for
each hit in the C zone; 0.5 second
for each hit to the D zone; and one
second for a complete miss. A good
time on this drill is considered to be
nine seconds or less. Michel’s per-
sonal best on this drill is reported
to be 5.5 seconds as of this writing.
TIPS Deliver the gun where
needed, be “minimal” on the trigger
and track the front sight for success.
This drill is tough, but certainly
doable. Due to the six-shot strings
of fire, the drill is also revolver
friendly—something many drills
are not.

10 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

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THE WORLD’S MOST BATTLE-PROVEN FIREARMS.

 | SPEEDLOADS
OLD SCHOOL | BY BOB SHELL

MONTENEGRIN
THE 11MM MONTENEGRIN WAS A LARGE
caliber military handgun intro-
duced in 1870. Invented by Leopold
Gasser and known as the Gasser sys-
tem in Austria, it was a massive six-
shooter chambered for the 11.15x36.
The cylinder doesn’t swing out, but
the ejector swings from the barrel
and knocks out the empties one at a
time on the solid-frame models. The
break-open frame is faster to load
and unload.
Barrel lengths varied from about
six inches to nine inches. Early mod-
<

.The Montenegrin was available in both solid frame and break-open-frame

els were made from cast iron then models. This one is a solid frame. The guns were made of cast iron and later
later from cast steel. cast steel, and depending on who made it, the guns may not be safe to shoot.

12 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 King Nicholas of Montenegro, who
ruled from 1910 to 1918, required
that every male own at least one of
these guns. There was a good pos-
sibility he had a financial interest in
the Gasser Company. During World
War I, the Austrian storm troops
used it because, even though it was
obsolete by then, it provided good
stopping power with bullet weights
There are dies kicking around that can help you make 11mm rounds. The
<

ranging from 280 to 315 grains de-
pending on who loaded it.
Blackpowder was used and is still
the preferred choice for anyone
making ammo for it. (Note that guns
were made in various countries, and
quality sometimes suffered. Some
are dangerous to shoot, so have
them checked out first.)
I have made ammo for a couple
of versions. Cases can be made
author has used reworked 8x56R cases (l.) and .45-70 cases (r.). It’s a labor-
intensive process but your only recourse since nobody loads it.
from .45-70 shortened and slightly 700 fps in velocity. Energy will run
tapered though some versions use in the area of 325 to 350 ft.-lbs.
a reworked 8x56R case. The usual
WARNING: The loads shown here are safe
bullet diameter is .445, though some only in the guns for which they were de-
may use a different diameter. One veloped. Neither the author nor Outdoor
gun I made ammo for used 39 grains Sportsman Group assumes any liability for
accidents or injury resulting from the use
of FFFg powder and a 300-grain or misuse of this data. Shooting reloads
hollow-base bullet and gave just over may void any warranty on your firearm.

Celebrating 150 years of

legendary excellence

Few decisions are as important as selecting your

personal defense ammunition. Winchester developed
the W Train & Defend system with full metal jacket
training ammo (T) ballistically matched with jacketed
hollow point Defend ammo (D). Winchester Train &
Defend ammunition offers less recoil with the threat-
stopping power needed when it counts.

winchester.com/safetyfrst

©2016 Olin Corporation

 | AMMO SHELF | By PATRICK SWEENEY

GAME CHANGER
RUGER TEAMS UP WITH POLYCASE FOR A NEW KIND OF DEFENSIVE AMMO.
POLYCASE IS AMMUNITION LOADED WITH
bullets unlike any other. Its ARX
bullets do not expand but perform
like expanding bullets. Ruger has
decided to take advantage of this
technology and has teamed up with
Polycase to produce the gun com-
pany’s first line of branded ammuni-
tion. But Ruger isn’t just stuffing the
standard ARX into its headstamped
cases, which include .380, 9mm, .40
S&W and .45 ACP.
“We tested the ever-living day-
lights out of the Polycase ammo, and
then made some changes,” Ruger’s
Mark Gurney says. “What we did
was slightly increase the density
of the ARX bullet. That gave us a
The Ruger ARX is an update of Polycase’s powdered metal/resin bullet. The
<

more-forgiving ballistic envelope
when it came to high-volume load-
ing.”
The 9mm and .45 bullets are
slightly heavier than the original
ARX while the .40 bullet is slightly
lighter. The .380 stayed the same. In
the instance of the 9mm, the high
velocity and slightly heavier bullet
put it into +P pressure territory.
The ARX bullet is not your typical
defensive bullet. There’s no copper
jacket, no lead core, no hollowpoint.
It is an injection-molded slurry of
copper powder and resin.
These bullets have a number of
features, but expansion is not one of
them, and expansion is what most
of us think of—along with penetra-
tion—when we consider a projectile
we’re counting on to stop an attack.
But Polycase, and by extension
Ruger, are approaching the problem
from an angle in which expansion,
is not a factor.
Polycase accomplishes this in-
corporating flutes or vanes into the
bullet molds, and these flutes take
ARX causes hydraulic displacement and energy transfer via the spin of the
bullet’s vanes and doesn’t depend on expansion for performance.
advantage of the mechanics of fluid
dynamics. When the bullet strikes
whatever medium it’s being fired
into, the bullet’s rotation turns the
flutes into the medium and pushes
into it. The main constituent of
ballistic gelatin—and the human
body—is water, and water does
not compress. Since it can’t, the
medium moves away from the flutes,
creating a lateral displacement of
fluid and energy transfer.
As Gurney explains it, the
“hydraulic displacement” energy
transfer occurs the instant the bul-
let hits a fluid-containing target—be
it ballistic gelatin or the body cavity
of an attacker. Contrast this to a hol-
lowpoint, which has to go a certain
depth until it expands and imparts
energy transfer.
“If you imagine the ARX flying
through water, you can ‘see’ the wa-
ter squirting out at right angles to
the bullet,” Gurney says. “Systems
modeling has shown the displaced
media moving at one and a half to
two times the speed of the bullet.
Independent tests have measured
lateral expansion or sideways
stretch in ordnance gelatin blocks
and compared the results from full
metal jackets, traditional hollow-
points and the ARX. In .45 ACP, the
ARX produced four times the later-
al expansion of the .45 hollowpoint.
(The full metal jacket, as expected,
didn’t produce any expansion of the
media.)
“Even more telling was the .380,”
he says. “Neither the full metal
jacket nor the hollowpoint induced
any expansion, but the .380 ARX
produced almost as much lateral
stretch as the .45 hollowpoint.”
Gurney also points out several
other advantages of the ARX over
a hollowpoint. Because the ARX
doesn’t depend on a nose cavity to
expand and transfer energy, the

14 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 | AMMO SHELF
ARX can’t be affected by cloth-
ing that could clog a traditional hol-
lowpoint. And the ARX isn’t speed
sensitive because it doesn’t require
a particular velocity to perform
like we want it to—unlike a hollow-
point that needs a certain amount
of speed to open up. And due to
its light weight, it sheds velocity
extremely quickly, reducing the
chances of overpenetration.
Back when the ARX first came
out, I shot Polycase bullets into
ballistic gelatin. The deepest one
penetrated 16 inches of ballistic
gelatin—basically what a premium
hollowpoint will do—on an abso-
lutely straight line. When the new,
heavier Ruger versions came out, I
shot them into gel as well, and they
performed to the same penetration
standard: 14 to 15 inches of gel for
the 9mm and 15 to 16 for the .45.
But when I say the bullets are
heavier, that’s relative. The 9mm
weighs only 80 grains while the
.45 is a svelte 118 grains. Compare
those to the respective popular
weights for these calibers, 124
grains and 230 grains, and you real-
ize the Ruger version of the ARX is
light indeed.
They move fast, though, with pub-
lished velocities of 1,540 fps for the
9mm and 1,307 fps for the .45 ACP.
(The .380 shoots a 56-grain bullet at
1,315 fps, and the 107-grain .40 S&W
leaves the muzzle at 1,320 fps.)
Despite the increased velocity,
the low bullet weights mean recoil
PERFORMANCE RESULTS | RUGER ARX
Bullet
Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps)
Ruger SR9, 9mm, 4.14 in. bbl.
Ruger/Polycase ARX 80
Nighthawk 1911, 9mm, 5.5 in. bbl.
Ruger/Polycase ARX 80 1,539
Doublestar 1911, .45 ACP, 5.5 in. bbl.
Ruger/Polycase ARX 118 1,408
Notes: Accuracy results the average of four five-shot groups over a Sinclair shooting rest at 25 yards. Velocity is the aver-
age of 10 shots measured by a LabRadar chronograph programmed to measure velocity 15 feet from the muzzle.
16 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
is not a big deal. In fact, they shoot a
bit softer than regular bullet weight
ammunition. And the uniformity of
the bullets—another benefit of the
manufacturing process—promises
accuracy.
I selected three pistols to check
velocity and accuracy: an early
Ruger SR9, a Nighthawk 1911 and
a Doublestar 1911. The latter guns
feature 5.5-inch barrels, which
boost velocities, and all three deliv-
ered excellent accuracy. The first
group I shot with the Nighthawk
was the worst for it: 1.5 inches.
So, in summary, Ruger and
Polycase have teamed up to further
advance the most-advanced bullet
design in existence. Accuracy-wise
they shoot as if they were built for
Camp Perry, and performance-
wise…well, I’ll let Gurney close it
out.
“In all ARX ammo, especially the
.380, the ARX keeps us from having
to choose between penetration and
expansion,” he says. “We get the
simple reliability and full penetra-
tion of an FMJ, and all the energy
transfer—if not more—of the hol-
lowpoint, and we don’t have to rely
on a hollowpoint to open up. Last
but not least, the light weight means
its sheds its velocity quickly on its
own, so the potential for overpen-
etration is minimized.”
Ruger is a savvy gun company,
and if it has decided the ARX bullet
is good enough to put its name on,
what are you waiting for?
Muzzle Extreme Standard Avg.
Spread (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)
1,461 46 17.0 1.55
22 9.4 1.25
57 20.9 1.88
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
 | GUNS & GEAR | BY J. SCOTT RUPP
< KIMBER MICRO 9

We profiled the original Micro, a .380, in our June/July 2015 issue, and now Kimber is upping the
ante with a 9mm version. It features an aluminum frame and a stainless steel barrel and slide.
The trigger, thumb safety and slide release will be familiar to every 1911 fan, and the gun sports a
lowered and flared ejection port. It has steel sights set in dovetails, and the mag well is beveled for
sure reloads. It’s available in Stainless (shown), Two-Tone and Crimson Carry versions.
{$654 and up, KImberAmerIcA.com}

< AMERICAN EAGLE SYNTECH

Featuring a polymer-encapsulated bullet, Syntech reduces not only the metal-to-metal contact that
shortens barrel life, it also eliminates copper and lead fouling—which means less cleaning time.
Syntech is loaded with clean-burning powders and features a new Catalyst primer for reliable,
consistent ignition. Last but not least, since there’s no copper jacket there’s less chance of splash-
back when you’re shooting steel. Available in 50-count boxes in 9mm (115 grains), .40 S&W (165)
and .45 ACP (230).
{$20 (9mm), $27 (.40), $34 (.45); FederAlpremIum.com}
<

<
RUGER/CRKT FOLLOW-THROUGH SIG SAUER X-RAY3
Renowned knife maker CRKT has partnered with Ruger to create a line of knives meant to echo The big complaint shooters have with the three-
Ruger gun designs. The Follow-Through was designed by Matthew Lerch as an everyday folder, dot sight design is it doesn’t do you any favors
and it has a built-in blade flipper for easy one-handed opening. The handle is glass-filled reinforced when you’re trying to pick up the front sight
nylon (used in many Ruger handgun grips) with checkering for a non-slip grip. The 3.75-inch blade because the rear dots tend to compete with the
boasts a stone-washed finish. Overall length closed is five inches, weight is 4.5 ounces, and it has front for your attention. With the X-Ray3, the
a multi-position pocket clip. Available in plain rear tritium vials have black surrounds that mute
edge (shown) and two serrated versions. those dots in daylight or bright conditions and
{$80, ruGer.com} draw your eye toward the front sight. In low-light
conditions, all three vials glow, with the larger
front again drawing focus. These steel sights are
<

CROSSBREED FREEDOM CARRY

available for SIG’s Classic line, P320, P250, P938
The Freedom Carry accommodates multiple concealed carry styles in comfort, and it even allows
and P238. {$130, SIGoptIcS.com}
larger guns to be carried in the appendix position. The Freedom Carry is available for more than
300 guns and includes some models for handguns with lights, lasers and red dots. Styles include
hand-dyed black cowhide and, for an upcharge, tan cowhide and tan horsehide.
{$65, croSSbreedHolSterS.com}

18 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

HOME OF THE WORLD’S FINEST 1911 PISTOLS
 | DEFENSIVE TACTICS | By WALT RAUCH

DIRECTIONAL DEFENSE
NOVEL WAYS TO TRAIN FOR ATTACKS FROM UNEXPECTED ANGLES.
LIVE-FIRE PRACTICE IS MOST OFTEN
done on a formal range where we
shoot from a formal stance and are
squared up to the target. What isn’t
done—for obvious safety reasons—is
engaging targets in any other direc-
tion.
In so many self-defense classes
I’ve taught or observed, when an at-
tack came obliquely at the students,
all of them turned to face the threat
with the gun held in both hands.
Why not simply draw and shoot one-
handed to your right or left? Mostly
it’s because we’ve trained to draw
and fire a certain way—and done so
until it’s completely ingrained.
But since we can never assume
that we’re going to be facing the Techniques such as shooting to the rear should be practiced with only inert
<

threat head-on when it presents
itself, we need to have another set
of skills if we want to be the most
proficient defensive shooters we can
be. Most of these techniques should
be practiced via dry-firing (double-
training guns, laser trainers or through dry-firing.
angle will be the easiest; simply Gaylord’s book, Handgunners Guide:
draw and extend your gun toward Including the Art of the Quick Draw
the threat. From the weak side, and Combat Shooting (paladin-press.
the gun will be positioned across com). Read up on this if it appeals to

check the gun, no live ammo or other
people in the room, safe backstop)
or with airsoft/paintball guns, non-
firing guns or laser trainers.
Following are some defensive
draws for non-facing threats, all
of which have the strong element
of surprise, plus one of them is ap-
plicable when the threat is so close
you have no room to move or even
be sure of completing your draw.
Because you’ll be using the gun or
facsimile in a manner totally foreign
to you, start slowly and carefully.
Don’t be in a hurry to see how fast
you can be.
Perhaps the simplest to deal with
is an attack coming from the side.
Rather than turning to face the
threat, practice drawing and shoot-
ing to either side. The strong-side
your body, and it’s crucial to ensure
you’re not going to shoot yourself:
You’ll have to twist at the waist so
the handgun’s muzzle is clear of the
body.
With a threat to your rear and
close, and if you are carrying your
handgun strong-side, bend as far
forward as you can while drawing
your gun. As it leaves the holster it
will already be directed rearward.
Fire after the entire gun is clear of
your body.
You can also use a variation of
this if you have a shoulder holster.
After getting a full grip on the gun
and directing the muzzle to the rear,
shove the gun rearward—beneath
and clear of your arm and chest—
and fire. I first read a variation of
this in famed holster maker Chic
you, but never practice this with live
ammunition.
Another alternative is to fall
backward while drawing and firing,
either as you’re falling or on the
ground. Doing so is applicable when
you’re cornered and can’t move. By
falling backward, you are gaining
the distance denied to you when
erect, and you will most certainly
surprise the attacker.
This is an all-or-nothing action,
and you need to practice how to fall
without injuring yourself. Like the
preceding technique, never practice
this with live ammo.
With all of these, the objective is
to develop and expand your defen-
sive abilities by recognizing you can
hit—and hit well—almost regardless
of body position.

20 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

OUR FIRST.
YOUR LAST.
INTRODUCING THE NEW
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Walther proudly introduces our first ever PPQ .45 auto. Constructed
for personal protection and recreational shooting, our .45 packs a
punch in the field, at the range or in the home. Our first PPQ .45 is
Built for You and Built to Last.
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 | ON PATROL | By DAVE SPAULDING

DOUBLING DOWN
EASY METHODS TO CLEAR THE DREADED DOUBLE FEED.
IN LAST ISSUE’S COLUMN, I DISCUSSED IN
detail how I teach the common “tap-
rack” drill to clear common stop-
pages in the semiautomatic pistol.
I advocate turning the gun inward,
as if pouring water from a glass,
grasping the slide with the thumb,
index and middle fingers to allow
gravity to assist in ejecting unwant-
ed objects from the chamber. This
will clear all stoppages short of the
dreaded in-line failure to extract,
better known as the double feed.
Clearing a double feed isn’t as
hard as many believe, although it
does take longer than other stop-
pages. In this case, two springs are
opposing one another because both
the magazine spring and recoil To clear a double feed, for most pistols you can simply rip the magazine
<

spring are in play. In order to clear
the logjam in the chamber, the ten-
sion on at least one of these springs
must be eliminated.
The common method for fixing
this is to lock the slide open, which
requires the slide stop lever to be
engaged. I have always found it curi-
ous that some instructors tell you it
is impossible, due to limited digital
dexterity, to manipulate the slide
lock after a reload only to teach you
to use it if a double feed is experi-
enced. Does anyone really believe
stress will be less while trying to
clear a double feed when under fire
versus trying to release the slide
while in the same circumstance?
How can we make clearing the
double feed easier to do? How about
marrying the required manipula-
tions to something you have already
performed hundreds, maybe even
thousands, of times? Think about
this for a moment: How many times
have you unloaded and reloaded
a pistol during your life? Depend-
from the well and then rack the slide.
ing on how much shooting you’ve
done, you’re probably pretty good
at it and can manage without much
thought—although attention should
be paid to the gun anytime you are
manipulating it.
Unloading a loaded semiauto is
nothing more than removing the
magazine and working the slide to
eject the round from the chamber.
To load, you insert a fresh magazine
and work the slide to chamber a
new round. These skills can be ap-
plied to fixing a double feed.
A double feed occurs when a car-
tridge is trying to enter the cham-
ber while another round is already
in place with dueling spring tension
(recoil and magazine) holding every-
thing in place. It could be a spent
or a live round, but in the end, you
have a locked slide.
The feel of this stoppage is unmis-
takable, and even though you may
have practiced extensively to clear
it, you won’t be able to help your-
self: You will look at the gun. That’s
no big deal because it confirms what
you already know, but don’t waste
more time. Clear it! Unload and
then reload the gun.
With most modern semiautos,
you can rip the magazine from the
gun by depressing the release but-
ton first and vigorously pulling the
magazine from the grip. With Glock
and HK pistols, this may solve the
problem, but don’t count on it. Work
the slide to ensure the chamber
empties. Many instructors recom-
mend working the slide multiple
times to make sure it is clear, but I
often just look to save time.
Then, reload the gun the same
way you would any speed-load.
This doesn’t take a lot of thought
or practice because you’ve been
performing the action for years. It’s
just a matter of thinking about it in
the right context.

22 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 TCM
ROCK ULTRA FS
22TCM/9mm
Combo

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This is guaranteed to change the way you look at .22 pistols. High on muzzle energy and impact. Light on recoil. Ready...aim...scream.
 | ON PATROL
The trick to performing this
is ensuring there is something to
grab on the magazine’s bottom in
order to rip it free. Heckler & Koch
was the first to place indents at the
bottom of the grip frame on the
original USP in order to perform
this action. My carry guns have
similar cuts in the frame or grip
so I can rip the magazine free if a
double feed occurs. Tango Down
offers Vickers magazine floorplates
that swell at the bottom just for this
purpose.

RRA 1911-A1 PS2300

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
BASIC LIMITED PISTOL Try this ahead of time using
MSRP: $1950*
dummy rounds and see if your carry
gun allows you to rip the magazine.
Keep in mind once the magazine
button is depressed, the magazine
is not held in place all that tightly.
INTRODUCING THE If there is anything to grab ahold of
RRA .45 ACP 1911 PISTOLS (base plate, floorplate forward lip,
RRAÕs legendary steel-framed 1911Õs are back etc.), it can be ripped free. The only
and performance-tuned for accuracy and reliability.
handgun I have found that has noth-
ing to grab on to is the Beretta 92,
I’m sure there are more, but I see
only the commonly carried combat
RRA 1911-A1 PS2000 1911 POLY PS5000
handguns in my courses.
NM HARDBALL
MSRP: $2550*
POLYMER
MSRP: $925*
Another method in clearing a
double feed was shown to me by a
member of a Joint Special Opera-
RRA 1911 QUICK SPECS: CALIBER: .45 ACP RRA MATCH ALUMINUM SPEED TRIGGER tions Tier One Unit, who told me
RRA FORGED NM OR POLYMER FRAME WITH CUSTOM FEATURES they were looking for a way to clear
their Glock pistols while wearing
* Prices are subject to change. VISIT: WWW.ROCKRIVERARMS.COM PERFORMANCE TUNED.
gloves in the sand-infested lands
of the Middle East. They wanted
to eliminate fine digital dexterity
movements, so they developed a way
to force the magazine out by work-
ing the slide.
What these operators found was
by depressing the magazine but-
ton they unlocked one of the two
battling springs and all that was
required to eject the magazine was
to forcefully work the slide back and
forth. The action shoves the maga-
zine out of the bottom of the gun
and frees the action. Don’t worry
about covering the ejection port

24 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

when doing this because you are
trying to force the jammed cartridg-
es out through the magazine well.
I have experimented with this
technique and found it to work quite
well, but I have found two guns that
will not allow this manipulation:
the aforementioned Beretta 92 and
the Ruger SR9. Both of these guns
have a small amount of frame at the
rear of the feed ramp on the barrel,
which snags the top round in the
magazine and keeps it from ejecting
from the gun.
In the case of guns that will not
allow either of these methods, then
you must use the older method of
locking the slide to the rear, strip-
ping out the magazine, racking the
slide to clear the chamber and then
reloading. This method requires the
most finger manipulation and takes
the greatest amount of time.
Those who teach this method
claim it will work with any pistol in
the world, and that might be true,
but how likely is it you will perform
a “battlefield pick-up” in your pistol
fight?
In the end, decide what will or
won’t work for you. But remember,
speed is a result of eliminating un-
necessary motion, and oftentimes
you’ll need speed to prevail. It
would also be wise to consider how
good your grip will be if your hands
are covered with a slick substance
like blood, sweat or water. In a situ-
ation like this, do you think using as
many fingers as you can on a slide is
a good idea?
Think for a moment about how
you grasp the slide in your cho-
sen method and whether or not
you are really happy with it. Take
some time and cover your hands
with baby oil and see which tech-
nique gives you the most “traction”
when manipulating the slide. Do
your homework beforehand so you
are not trying to sort it out in the
middle of a fight.

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 25

 | ESSENTIALS | By JAMES TARR

LASER TO THE MAX

NEW SPARTAN RAISES THE BAR FOR DESIGN AND AFFORDABILITY.
WHILE ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO SIMPLY
be a new “value” line of rail-mount-
ed lasers, LaserMax’s Spartan has
been so successful the company
says its entire first production run
is now sold out, breaking the firm’s
previously held record for presale
volumes.
LaserMax has been in business
for more than 25 years and isn’t
just a commercial weapon-mounted
laser company. It also manufactures
components for the semiconductor,
biomedical and aerospace indus-
tries, and some of its products have
been to space.
As for lasers, it has shipped over
a million of them. In the gun world
LaserMax is perhaps best known for One of the big advantages to the LaserMax Spartan is it allows shooters a lot
<

its guide rod laser, which I have pre-
viously reviewed in this column.
“I was tasked with differentiating
a new ‘value’ line of rail-mounted
products that would compete with
the rubbish being shipped in from
the Pacific Rim, nothing more,”
Celia Grimes, LaserMax’s cheerful
director of Marketing, told me. “As
the product got deeper into develop-
ment, however, two things became
evident. One, LaserMax engineers
are truly incapable of designing
anything short of first-class gear,
and, two, the new line would be not
only affordable, but truly advan-
taged in all the ways that our con-
temporaries care about.”
Grimes probably wanted to use
a less polite word than “rubbish”
to describe the cheap lasers on the
market. It’s one thing to produce a
laser that turns on; it’s another to
make a laser that just ignores the
recoil forces of a handgun. In la-
sers, just as in everything else, you
get what you pay for.
more latitude in positioning—making it more suited to more hand/finger types.
The Spartan is a rail-mounted
laser available in red or green.
LaserMax likes to think of the
new Spartan as its “sport utility”
line—rugged but no nonsense. The
Spartan is designed to be a no-frills
attachment with everything you
need and nothing you don’t. The
company has even come up with
some great new packaging for the
design, complete with a Bruce Lee
quote on the back: “The successful
warrior is the average man, with
laser-like focus.”
Yes, the Spartan is “just” a rail-
mounted laser. In basic concept
it isn’t anything other companies
haven’t done before. And yet it is.
First and most important, the
mounting system. Most rail-mount-
ed lasers mount in such a fashion
they can be adjusted forward and
back only the distance of one rail
slot. The Spartan is a little differ-
ent. Between the handgun’s rail
and the laser body is the “rail vise
positioner,” a much more finely
adjustable mounting surface. Laser-
Max has a patent pending on its
Rail Vise Technology because while
it is a relatively simple upgrade in
mounting, it does make a distinct
difference.
A standard rail has slots that are
3/8 inch center to center, but the
teeth on the LaserMax’s rail vise
positioner are 1/8 inch center to
center, which enables a much more
customized fit to your specific finger
length. The Spartan also fits onto
every kind of rail there is, whether
it is a MIL STD 1913 “Picatinny”
rail, a Weaver rail or an odd-dimen-
sioned rail proprietary to a specific
manufacturer.
Because it fits on any kind of rail,
the Spartan is advertised as being
suitable for both compact and full-
size handguns. Including the ambi
switches the unit is less than

26 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

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1.75 inches long and less than
an inch tall. The laser body itself is
made of fiberglass-reinforced nylon
and weighs just over half an ounce.
It is powered by a 1/3N battery.
The laser is activated by rather
generous ambidextrous paddle
switches. The shape of the laser
housing itself helps to protect them
against accidental activation.
For testing LaserMax sent me one
of its red laser Spartans, and I have
to say it’s the brightest laser unit of
this size I’ve ever tested. Perhaps
that’s because of its dot size. A foot
from the unit, the slightly oblong
dot is 3/16 inch wide; at five yards,
it is 0.75 inch wide; and it only gets
larger at increased distances. Of-
ficially, it is a Class 3R 650nm wave-
length visible laser, with <5mW
output. There’s nothing unusual in
© 2016 Kel-Tec CNC Industries, Inc.
28 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
those specs, but the fact that the dot
is larger—due to the lens—means it
is much more functional.
You have your choice of two
modes with the laser: constant-on or
pulsing. Battery life for the red la-
ser is four to five hours in constant-
on mode, a life that increases to
eight to 10 hours on pulse because
the laser is on just half the time.
The green laser actually pulses in
both modes (just at different rates),
and you’ll get an hour in “steady”
mode and 75 minutes in pulse.
The controls are simple. The
ambidextrous paddles are it. Press
either paddle to turn the laser on or
off. Once it’s on, hold down a paddle
switch for five seconds to switch it
from constant-on to pulsing or back.
The laser has an automatic shutoff
after 10 minutes. There are windage
and elevation adjustments on the
polymer housing, the adjustment be-
ing done via Allen-head screws.
The polymer body of the laser
itself has a standard rail on the
bottom for mounting a light or IR
laser if desired, although I think
stacked electronics on the front
of your handgun might get a little
unwieldy.
Even though the first production
run sold out, by the time you’re
reading this LaserMax will have
more Spartans on the shelves of
your dealers. The red laser unit has
a suggested retail price of $99, and
the green laser variant is more ex-
pensive at $149. Like every product
from LaserMax, the Spartan lasers
are covered by the company’s
five-year limited warranty. They’re
worth checking out.
 SIG SAUER P226 AIR PISTOL
SIG Sauer now has an airgun division, and I just
recently received one of its new P226 pellet
pistols for testing. In addition to the P226, SIG
is producing airgun versions of its P250 pistol
and two long guns. The P226 airgun has a sug-
gested retail of $111 and the long gun airguns
start at $200. My sample P226 was made in
Japan.
All of the products have the look and feel
of the real thing while being substantially less
expensive and not requiring an FFL. In addition
to being a lot of fun, airguns that simulate the
look and feel of the real thing are an invaluable
training aid—and a lot cheaper to feed.
The SIG P226 airgun is a .177 caliber pellet
pistol. It is an all-metal piece with polymer grips
designed to replicate the weight and feel of
the real handgun, which is why it weighs 2.5
pounds. It is a semiauto with a DA/SA trigger
and falling hammer, and a slide that recipro-
cates with each shot. The decocker is also the
safety: up for Fire. Trigger pulls on the P226 air
pistols I’ve tried have been smoother and lighter
than on the real thing. The slide release and
takedown lever are just for show.
This pistol is advertised as having a
16-round magazine, which is a narrow polymer
stick with a rotating eight-shot cylinder at each
end. After eight shots you’ll have to eject the
magazine, flip it, and reinsert the other end. The
pistol has a rifled steel barrel, and I found the
pistol to be nicely accurate.
It’s powered by a traditional 12-gram CO2
cartridge. To install, simply flip open the air
pistol’s backstrap, insert the cartridge and close
the backstrap. No thumbscrews needed. SIG
says you’ll get up to 510 fps out of this pistol.
In addition to the test sample, I fired SIG
airguns (including a P226) extensively during
a recent visit to the SIG Academy in New
Hampshire and found them all completely reli-
able. Yes, realistic airguns work for training, but
they’re also great for introducing young people
to shooting. This version of the P226 has an
extended threaded barrel with thread protector,
so you can mount a fake suppressor on it if you
want.
In addition to the airguns, SIG is also selling
pellets and metal targets, everything you need
for an afternoon of fun on the range except for
the CO2 cartridges themselves.—JT

Fire the PMR-30® pistol and in a fraction of a second, light weight unleashes heavy duty. Thanks
to a unique Kel-Tec® hybrid blow-back system that takes a .22 magnum, 30 round magazine.
Innovation. Performance. Kel-Tec. See more at YouTube.com/KelTecWeapons
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 29
WAVE THE
THE NEW RUGER
AMERICAN IS THE
DUTY PISTOL
MISSING FROM
THE COMPANY’S

FLAG
LINEUP.
BY JAMES TARR

30 HANDGUNS MARCH/APRIL 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 “I
t’s too bad Ruger doesn’t make a duty
pistol.” This was said to me within the
past year by someone who is a consul-
tant to Ruger, a former law enforcement
officer with years of firearms training
experience. At the time it seemed an odd statement
because sales of the Ruger SR9 have been steady
since its introduction. But, in truth, the sales of
the SR9 were not what Ruger had hoped, and law
enforcement agencies have never really warmed to
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
it as a duty gun despite its affordability.
This situation was not acceptable to upper man-
agement at Ruger, and they sent out a directive to
their engineers to design a striker-fired pistol not
just suitable for law enforcement duty use but which
would meet or exceed the U.S. military’s Modular
Handgun System requirements. The result of that
intense effort is now here: the Ruger American
pistol, manufactured in Ruger’s Prescott, Arizona,
facility.
Art direction by Heather Ferro
Phoo by Michael Anschuetz
MARCH/APRIL 2016 HANDGUNS 31
WAVE THE FLAG
For testing I received one of
the first-production Americans, a
9mm Pro model. The Pro does not
have a manual safety, nor does it
have magazine disconnect safe-
ties—both of which will be offered
on other models. Ruger thinks (and
I agree) the Pro model will be its
most popular, and it is the first
model put into production. Ruger
American pistols will initially be
available in 9mm and .45 ACP, with
a .40 S&W version coming later.
Suggested retail is $579, which
means you’ll probably find it on
shelves around or below the $500
mark.
Ruger kept such a lid on this
pistol I had no idea what it would
As a duty pistol, the American
<
look like until I opened the case,
and while you can see it has Ruger
DNA, the genes come from the side
of the family that produced the
relatively streamlined SR9 and
not the big-boned P85. The Ruger
American appears to be an evolu-
tion of the SR9 design, and to my
eyes it’s a slightly more macho and
sci-fi version of that gun.
But I’m talking about appear-
ance only. This is a completely
new design, and no parts of this
pistol are interchangeable with
any other Ruger pistol. In appear-
ance it fits in with many of the new
striker-fired pistols on the market
such as the HK VP9 and FNH FNS.
While some of the product
spec sheets sent to me by Ruger
indicate the company does plan
compact versions of the gun, the
standard pistol is big. The 9mm
version sports a 4.17-inch barrel
and is 7.5 inches long by 5.6 inches
tall. The .40 S&W version is on the
same frame as the 9mm. The .45
ACP version is even bigger, with a
4.53-inch barrel. The 9mm version
comes with 17-round magazines,
whereas the .45 version is fed by
10-round tubes. In states that have
Empty weight of the pistol is 30
ounces, which is a just over three
ounces heavier than the compa-
rable Glock 17. One reason for the
added weight is the machined
stainless steel chassis inside the
frame. The chassis holds all the
trigger parts and the frame rails,
which are much larger than what
you’ll see on competing designs. As
a result of the big frame rails there
is little slide-to-frame movement.
Barrel fit was solid. The barrel
is stainless steel and has a sizable
cutout in the hood for a loaded-
chamber indicator. The barrel is
ramped and has a natural finish.
In accordance with the Modular
Handgun System requirements,
Ruger says every part on the pistol
is endurance rated for 20,000
rounds.
The slide is stainless steel as
well but sports a corrosion-resis-
tant black nitride coating. Atop the
slide you’ll find authentic Novak
LoMount three-dot sights dove-
tailed into place. Both front and
rear sights have no-snag profiles,
and they are steel—as all serious
sights on duty pistols should be.
The top of the slide is flat, which to

comes with a full frame rail for
accessories. There’s also a stainless
steel rail inside the frame that adds
recoil-taming weight.
The Pro model lacks external safeties, and unlike the company’s SR9
<
magazine restrictions, the 9mm
will ship with compliant mags.
my mind helps the pointability of
the pistol.
The rear of the slide has cross-
hatch serrations that are more
aggressive than they appear. I wish
Ruger had serrated the front of
the slide as well, but no such luck.
The recoil spring is flat wire and
captured around a steel full-length
guide rod.
The frame is long-glass-fiber
reinforced nylon. It feels solid in
the hand. The pistol has ambidex-
trous slide stops and magazine
release buttons. Both controls are
contoured and protected by ridges
and swells on the polymer frame.
Ruger chose not to use the
simple reversible backstrap it
employed on the SR9 but rather
replaceable grip modules that

design, the American’s slide release lever and magazine release are cover most of the frame but the
ambidextrous. frontstrap. The pistol ships with

32 HANDGUNS MARCH/APRIL 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

small, medium and large grip mod-
ules, with the medium installed at
the factory, and going up in size not
only increases the palm swell but
the reach to the trigger. The frame
looks a bit too modular to me—
functional as opposed to being
aesthetically pleasing—but it felt
good in my hand and the hands of
my volunteer shooters.
The front of the frame is tex-
tured with rows of small diamonds
and triangles. The rear of each
grip module has larger diamonds
for improved grip. What texturing
there is on the pistol works, but
the sides of the grip modules are
far too smooth for my taste. Luck-
ily, stippling is easy, and I’m sure
replacement grip modules will be
inexpensive.
Also, the front of the rounded
trigger guard is smooth. Hooking
the index finger of your support
hand around the front of the trig-
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
ger guard is out of fashion, but for
those of us who do it I wish Ruger
had added some texturing there.
The trigger itself is steel, as is
the safety lever on its face. In fact,
every part of the fire control group
in the pistol is steel. The trigger
bow is much less curved than you’ll
find on other striker-fired pistols,
and I really like it. The face of the
trigger is smooth and nearly flat.
Ruger says this pistol has a two-
stage trigger, which sounds unusual
for a striker-fired pistol. In actual
use, however, the trigger pull is
familiar. There is a short take-up
followed by a break. Total trigger
travel is 7/16 inch (0.43), with the
take-up being two-thirds of that
travel. There is an overtravel stop
built into the bottom of the trigger
guard near the frame.
Ruger doesn’t publish trigger
pull weights for its pistols on its
website, but my contact at Ruger
says specifications for the Ameri-
can pistol’s trigger is six pounds.
When I first tried the trigger of
my sample, it felt a little gritty. It
seemed like I could feel all the
metal parts moving against each
other, and when I measured
RUGER
AMERICAN PISTOL
TYPE: striker-fired semiauto
CALIBER: 9mm Luger (tested), .40 S&W,
.45 ACP
CAPACITY: 17+1 (where legal)
BARREL LENGTH: 4.17 in.
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 7.5/5.6/1.4 in.
WEIGHT: 30 oz.
CONSTRUCTION: black nitride coated
stainless slide; long-glass-filled nylon
SAFETIES: sear block drop safety, trigger
safety lever
SIGHTS: Novak LoMount steel three-dot
TRIGGER: 6.5 lb. pull (as measured)
PRICE: $579
MANUFACTURER: Ruger, ruger.com
MARCH/APRIL 2016 HANDGUNS 33
WAVE THE FLAG
the trigger, the pull weight was
seven pounds even.
When I pulled the top end off
the gun, I saw that the pistol was
bone dry. I grabbed a small bottle
Ruger opted for replaceable grip panels (small, medium and large) on the
<
American. While Tarr liked the serrations on the frontstrap, he wished the grip
panels were more aggressively textured.
ITHACA
of Brownells Friction Defense and
squirted the lube over the trigger
bar—as well as the sear and all the
other internal parts—as I worked
the trigger, until the lube was run-
G U N C O M P A N Y
ning out the bottom of the gun and
dripping off the trigger. You can
never have too much lube.
After I wiped off the excess lube
and weighed the trigger pull, I
found it had dropped to 6.5 pounds
and was much crisper and smooth-
er. That is on par with most other
striker-fired guns on the market. I
imagine this pistol won’t be on the
market for too long before some-
one will be selling an “improved”
sear to reduce the trigger pull
and gunsmiths start offering
trigger jobs, but for a duty
gun 6.5 pounds is perfectly
acceptable.
While the Pro model doesn’t
have a manual safety, the Ameri-
can has enough safeties you can
tell it’s a Ruger. In addition to the
safety lever on the trigger, there
is an automatic sear block system
that serves as a drop safety.
Takedown of the pistol is as
simple as you can get, and with
the American you don’t have to
pull the trigger to accomplish the
process. Lock the slide back, drop
the magazine and push down on the
takedown lever. Then release the
slide. The entire top end comes off
the gun. The captured recoil spring
assembly and barrel come right
out, and that’s all the disassembly
Ruger recommends for cleaning. In
the owner’s manual you can’t even
find instructions on how to take
apart the frame or trigger compo-
nents.
The pistol ships with two maga-
zines. They have stainless steel
bodies and black polymer base
pads and followers. The magazines
have index holes on either side,
and all the holes are marked with
large numbers: odd on the left (5-
17) and even on the right. Just this
numbering on the magazine shows
real attention to detail. SR9 maga-
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
zines are made by Mec-Gar, and I
noticed right away these were dif-
ferent. Brandon Trevino at Ruger
told me the company had designed
the magazines while the bodies
themselves were manufactured by
Checkmate.
The pistol comes in a lockable
plastic case with molded spaces for
the magazines and spare grips. Ac-
cessory magazines, mag pouches,
sights and holsters will be avail-
able at ShopRuger.com as soon as
the gun makes its debut.
Recoil Reduction
Ruger touts this pistol as hav-
ing a “recoil reduction system.”
This, the company says, is due to a
combination of a “scientifically de-
signed barrel cam to better spread
recoil energy over time, lower mass
slide, low center of gravity and low
bore axis,” a system it claims will
result in less felt recoil and muzzle
flip than comparable designs.
I pulled out my scale and discov-
ered that even though the Ruger is
over three ounces heavier than a
Glock 17, almost all of that weight
is in the frame. The Ruger’s slide
is about half an ounce lighter than
that of a Glock 17.
In my experience, bore height
off the hand is the biggest factor
affecting muzzle rise. My 42-ounce
all-steel SIG P226 has more muzzle
rise than my 24-ounce Glock 34,
simply because the bore of the SIG
sits so far off the hand. The Ruger
American’s bore sits just under a
quarter of an inch higher off the
hand than the Glock 17, but it is
lower than striker-fired guns like
the Springfield XD and XD(m) and
SIG P320. Between the relatively
low bore and extra non-reciprocat-
ing weight, I expected the Ruger to
be controllable when I headed to
the range. I was right.
MARCH/APRIL 2016 HANDGUNS 35
WAVE THE FLAG
I enlisted half a dozen volun-
teers to help with the testing, and
together we put 500 rounds through
the Ruger in half an hour, ham-
mering steel and paper targets.
When we were done, the front half
of the slide was too hot to touch,
the takedown lever nearly so. The
pistol did not experience a single
malfunction.
I used a wide variety of ammo to
test its reliability (see accompany-
ing table), with the Black Hills fea-
turing a huge hollowpoint cavity,
but the pistol ate that load just as it
ate everything else.
Felt recoil and muzzle rise were
very controllable. The pistol shot
to point of aim with all ammo at 10
yards, and at 25 yards the differ-
ence in point of impact was mini-
mal and well within the margin of
error of the shooter. While I wish
the sides of the grips were more ag-
gressively textured, I didn’t notice
The American features the excel-
<
lent Novak LoMount three-dot sight, a
steel no-snag design. Both front and
rear are set in dovetails.
ACCURACY RESULTS | RUGER AMERICAN PISTOL
9MM LUGER
Wolf FMJ
Black Hills TAC-XP +P
ZQI FMJ
Hornady XTP
Hornady XTP
Notes: Accuracy results are the averages of four five-shot groups at 15 yards from a sandbag rest. Velocities are aver-
ages of 10 shots measured with an Oehler Model 35P 12 feet from the muzzle. Abbreviation: FMJ, full metal jacket
36 HANDGUNS MARCH/APRIL 2016
the pistol slipping in my hand when
shooting.
Most of the shooters felt the
medium grip module was the right
size for them. One of the shooters
had long enough thumbs that he
was preventing the slide catch from
engaging when the magazine was
empty, but he was the only one.
As most of them were spoiled
competition shooters, the trigger
pull on the Ruger was too heavy for
their tastes, but they thought it was
an acceptable weight pull for a duty
gun. For the suggested price point
they all thought the Ruger was a
solid performer.
When we set the pistol down to
cool, one of the shooters noticed
the pin in the trigger upon which
the safety lever pivots had started
to work its way out of the left side
of the trigger just a bit. The pin on
my sample was staked in place on
the right side of the trigger but not
the left.
I sent photos of the drifting
pin to Ruger and learned that
once again I’ve managed to break
something in a way no one had ever
done before. A Ruger engineer
said it’s the first time he’d seen the
pin come out that way. Pins always
back out the way they were insert-
ed, which is why Ruger staked it
only on the right-hand side.
“We have fired over 20,000
rounds each of 9mm NATO through
dozens of guns and never seen that
before,” Trevino said. “The one-
side staking is the correct process.
I suspect it may be an undersized
pin or oversize hole, but there is
no way to be sure without getting
Bullet Muzzle Standard
Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps)
115 1,138 23
115 1,122 10
123 1,139 18
124 1,104 19
147 923 11
the gun back. We have no plans to
make any production changes, but
once we get that gun back it will
give us valuable feedback in case
some change might be needed. If
that happened to a consumer, our
customer service would take care
of it immediately.”
When it came time for accuracy
work I moved to the sandbags and
went to work. The Ruger’s accuracy
was acceptable but nothing spec-
tacular, averaging just over three
inches at 25 yards.
My time with the pistol before
deadline was short, but I managed
to put just over 750 rounds through
the pistol in total without a single
malfunction. The only issue I expe-
rienced was the trigger safety pin
drifting.
The question I’ve already been
asked is “Is the Ruger better than
(fill in the blank) striker-fired pis-
tol?” While that is a subjective call,
I like the Ruger American pistol
better than the Springfield XD
and XD(m) because it has a lower
bore height and the fact you can’t
cycle the Springfield’s slide without
depressing the grip safety.
I also like the Ruger more than I
do the Smith & Wesson M&P simply
because the M&P’s grip doesn’t fit
my hand.I like the Ruger more than
I do the HK VP9 not only because
the Ruger’s suggested retail is over
$100 less but also because of the
European-style paddle mag release
on the HK.
As for what I don’t like on the
Ruger, I don’t really like the looks
of the grip frame. It’s a little too
modular for me. It is also too
smooth on the sides for my taste
even though the gun didn’t move in
my hand while shooting. And I wish
the magazine well opening was a
Avg.
Group (in.) little larger.
3.9 But those are minor, subjec-
2.9 tive issues. What I do know is the
3.4 American was completely reliable,
3.0 controllable, has a nice combina-
2.7 tion of features and an affordable
price.
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
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WELCOME TO THE FIRST EDITION

of Lands & Grooves by Kimber. Read all about the
brand new Kimber K6s revolver in .357 Magnum and
.38 Special, which is Kimber’s premiere foray into the
revolver world. Learn more about laser shooting with
Crimson Trace-equipped Kimber pistols. Take a tour
behind-the-scenes of the never-before-seen Kimber
Factory in Yonkers, New York. Meet the crafsmen
and technicians who build some of the fnest factory-
produced frearms in the world. Journey with editor
of Peterson’s Hunting, Mike Schoby, as he takes a
Kimber Mountain Ascent and .375 H&H Caprivi across
continents to hunt
in New Zealand for
Himalyan tahr and
Caprivi Strip for
African hippo. Tese
articles, and many
more, remind us why
Kimbers are “what all

K6s guns should be.”

HOLLYWOOD’S
GREATEST HANDGUNS BY BRAD FITZPATRICK
THE BILL RUGER COLLECTION AT THE NRA MUSEUM
HOUSES SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC HANDGUNS IN
FILM AND TELEVISION HISTORY.

S
ome of the greatest icons in film and televi-
sion history aren’t actors. Instead, they’re the
clothes, cars and equipment that have come to
help define familiar characters. Indiana Jones
had his whip and signature fedora hat, Thomas
Magnum his floral shirt and Ferrari 308. And some of
the most recognizable and most celebrated treasures
in cinematic history are firearms, particularly hand-
guns. “Dirty” Harry Callahan’s challenge to an unlucky
punk would have been far less daunting had Callahan
been brandishing a can of pepper spray instead of a .44
Magnum.
The NRA’s William B. Ruger Collection at the NRA
headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, is a trove of Holly-
wood’s most famous firearms—from the Colt .32 Police
used in the 1935 film “The Thin Man” to the massive
Smith &Wesson Model 500 Samuel L. Jackson carried
in 2008’s “The Spirit.” Most of these guns are loan from
actors, film companies, gun wranglers or private collec-
tors, and all have a special place in history.
Here’s a look at 10 iconic handguns from that collec-
tion. Each one helped communicate a story in televi-
sion or on film, and each has its own tale to tell.

“Magnum, P.I.” (1980-88):

Colt Mark IV Series 70 9mm
From 1980 until 1988, Tom Selleck played the role of
Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum.
The Magnum character’s sidearm of choice was a Colt
Mark IV Series 70, a gun that is faithful to the Govern-

42 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 HANDGUNS 55
HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST HANDGUNS
ment models carried by Ameri-
can soldiers in the 20th century.
The bulk of the 1911s carried in
armed conflicts utilized the Series
70 firing system. In 1983, the Series
80 was introduced, which had a
firing pin block safety system. The
Series 70 pistol is still produced
by Colt today, and it has the same
spur hammer, short steel trigger
and walnut grips found on standard
issue Government 1911s.
The 1911 Selleck carried on Mag-
num, P.I., which is now in the NRA
Museum, is chambered to 9mm and
has been adapted to firing blanks
for cinematic purposes.
“Letters From Iwo Jima” (2006):
Type B Nambu 7mm
Clint Eastwood produced and
co-directed this highly acclaimed
2006 film about the Pacific Theater
during World War II. In the film,
Japanese soldiers carried Nambu
semiauto pistols, which relied on a
short-recoil operating system and
were designed by Japanese soldier
Kijiro Nambu at the turn of the 19th
century.
The Type B or “Baby” Nambu
in the NRA collection was carried
by an extra in Eastwood’s film and
is chambered in 7x20 Nambu. The
Type B was less common than the
standard 8x22 Nambu pistol. The
Type B Nambu pistol was a three-
quarter scale model of the Type A,
and it held seven rounds of 7x20
ammo in the magazine.
Although it was more compact
and easier to transport than the
8mm version, the Type B Nambu
was never issued to soldiers by the
Japanese government. This meant
Browning Hi Power
56 HANDGUNS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015
soldiers had to purchase their own
guns, and the Type B Nambu was
expensive compared to other mod-
els. Nevertheless, there were plenty
of soldiers in the Japanese army
who purchased their own Baby
Nambu pistols.
“3:10 to Yuma” (2007):
Cimarron Schofield No. 3
In the remake of the classic 1957
film of the same name, actor Ben
Foster played Charlie Prince, a
loyal member of a gang of outlaws
headed up by Russell Crowe’s char-
acter Ben Wade. In the film, Prince
carried a reproduction Smith &
Wesson No. 3 Schofield, an im-
proved version of the earlier Smith
& Wesson No. 3 American.
The No. 3 American and the
Colt 1873 were both considered as
replacements for the percussion
revolvers carried by American sol-
diers in the mid 1800s.
In 1875, Maj. George Schofield
redesigned the No. 3 American,
and many historian believe the
Schofield redesign, from which
empty cases could automatically
be ejected, was actually superior
to the Colt design. Had the original
No. 3 design been introduced with
Schofield’s improvements in place,
the revolver might have been the
sidearm of choice for American
soldiers instead of the Colt.
Although the No. 3 Schofield was
never as commercially success-
ful as the Colt, it was still a well-
respected design, and it had a loyal
following in the late 19th century.
The handgun used in the film was a
Cimarron reproduction chambered
in .45 S&W Schofield.
Cimmaron Schofield No. 3
“Beverly Hills Cop” (1984):
Browning Hi Power 9mm
Eddie Murphy has portrayed De-
tective Axel Foley in four separate
Beverly Hills Cop films (Beverly
Hills Cop IV was slated to hit the-
aters sometime this year). Despite
the fact that the gun Murphy is
holding in the poster for the origi-
nal 1984 film is a 1911, he actually
carries a Browning Hi Power 9mm
throughout most of the movie.
The design for the Hi Power was
conceptualized by John Browning,
and after his death in 1926 the first
Hi Powers were produced by FN of
Belgium in 1935.
Although it was never as popular
a military weapon as the larger Colt
1911, the Hi Power single-action
semiauto has seen duty all around
the world—serving as a military
sidearm in dozens of countries
around the globe during the 20th
century. The name Hi Power refers
to the gun’s magazine capacity (13),
which was higher than most com-
peting semiauto handguns at the
time of its release.
“Pale Rider” (1985):
Remington 1858 New Army .44
The editor stole my thunder a bit
on this one, as he highlighted it in
last issue’s “Speedloads,” but here
goes. Clint Eastwood stars as the
enigmatic Preacher in this 1985
western film, which he also direct-
ed. In the movie, Eastwood carries
an 1858 Remington New Army .44,
which saw use in the Civil War.
Though it cost more than the 1860
Colt revolver, the Remington had a
topstrap that made the frame more
stable and it had an innovative
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
safety slot between the cylinders so little more than a footnote in his- This led him to the development
that the hammer could be lowered toric tomes about historical British of the Webley-Fosbery Automatic,
and secured without resting on top firearms. George Fosbery, a colonel a revolver-semiautomatic hybrid.
of a loaded chamber. in the British military, wanted to de- A recoil slide located in the frame
In the late 1860s, the popularity of sign a revolver capable of handling above the grip allows the entire
cartridge revolvers was growing and the standard .455 Webley cartridge top portion of the revolver to move
Remington began offering conver- but operated like newer semiauto- rearward upon firing, recocking
sion kits for the New Army. In the matic handguns. the revolver and indexing the
film, the gun that Eastwood uses is
a cartridge revolver, and in multiple
scenes he can be seen switching be-
tween empty and loaded cylinders.
The 1858 Remington was also the
same gun that “Buffalo” Bill Cody
carried from 1863 until 1906, and
when that gun went up for auction in
2012 it fetched $239,000.

“The Maltese Falcon” (1941):

Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver
Were it not for the unprecedented
success of the 1941 film “The Mal-
tese Falcon,” which starred Hum-
phrey Bogart, the Webley-Fosbery Smith & Wesson Model 29
Automatic Revolver would likely be
HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST HANDGUNS
cylinder. A cam runs along the
characteristic zig-zag tracks in the
cylinder to ensure proper indexing,
and the top-break reloading design
is similar to other Webley revolvers.
On the left side of the revolver there
is a large safety lever, a rarity for a
wheelgun.
It’s a quirky design for sure, one
that never really caught on, but
these guns regularly fetch five fig-
ures at auction.
“The Book of Eli” (2010):
Heckler & Koch HK45
In this post-apocalyptic film writ-
ten by Gary Whitta and directed by
Albert and Allen Hughes, Denzel
Washington plays the role of Eli.
Washington’s character is a skilled
shooter and tactician, and in the
film he carries a bow, a Remington
shotgun and an HK45.
Heckler & Koch’s HK45, an
improved version of the company’s
earlier USP45, uses a modernized
version of the Browning linkless
recoil operating system and HK’s
proprietary O-ring barrel system for
secure lockup and optimum accu-
racy.
Another improvement of the HK45
over its predecessor is the addition
of user-replaceable grip panels for
a better fit and more secure hold.
In the film, Washington’s character
opts for a more simplistic custom-
ization method: He wraps the gun’s
grip with black tape.
The slide of the HK45 used in
the film was burnished to give it a
more weathered look (this film is,
after all, set 30 years after a nuclear
apocalypse). According to the NRA
Museum, Washington did his own
stunts in the film, and this required
firing hundreds of blanks through
this signature pistol.
“Dirty Harry” (1971):
Smith & Wesson Model 29
One of the most celebrated scenes
in all of cinema is the shot of Clint
Eastwood as “Dirty Harry” Callahan
scowling over a robber with a large-
46 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
frame revolver in his hand. The
large-frame revolver was a Smith &
Wesson Model 29, and the “Do you
feel lucky?” catchphrase might well
have been applied to the sharehold-
Beretta 92FS
ers at Smith &Wesson.
They were lucky Eastwood touted
the gun as the “most powerful hand-
gun in the world” and created a .44
Magnum frenzy that swept around
the globe. So fervent was the de-
mand that gun shops couldn’t keep
Model 29s in stock, and waiting lists
were long.
The Smith & Wesson N frame was
introduced in .44 Magnum in 1955,
and the Model 29 moniker followed
in 1957 on the heels of a corporate Heckler & Koch HK45
renaming campaign at S&W. In
truth, the Model 29 was never fired
in the iconic film. Instead, a Model
25 in .45 Colt was used because
cinematic blanks were more widely
available.
In the 2000s, Smith & Wesson
reintroduced the original Model 29
design in its Classics line of fire-
arms. Its available in both four- and
6.5-inch barrel lengths.
Colt Single Action Army
“Die Hard” (1988):
Beretta 92FS
“Die Hard” was a huge cinematic
success, helping establish Bruce
Willis as an A-list action star and
creating a film franchise resulting
in four sequels. But those films also
helped make the Beretta 92 famous
with the throngs of moviegoers who
paid their money to watch Willis’
character John McClane take on a
group of ruthless terrorists. Remington 1858
New Army
Having just usurped the 1911
as the U.S. military’s sidearm of
choice, the Beretta pistol had a lot
to prove. But the 92’s SA/DA design,
open slide and short-recoil action
proved to be extremely accurate
and reliable, and so it began its long
and storied career as a police and
military sidearm.
In addition, takedown was easy
and its ambidextrous design worked
well for right- and left-handed
shooters. These attributes,
Type B Nambu
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HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST HANDGUNS
coupled with the light recoil of
the 9mm and increased magazine
capacities, have kept the Beretta on
top for 30 years. The FS version fea-
tures a redesigned hammer pin that
prevents the slide from flying back if
it cracks—an issue the gun had in its
early days.

“Last Stand at Saber River” (1997):

Colt 1873 SAA .45
Based on the Elmore Leonard
novel of the same name, “Last Stand
at Saber River” stars Tom Selleck
as Paul Cable in this made-for-tele-
vision Western. Selleck’s character
carries an 1873 Colt Single Action
Army .45 in the film, and it doesn’t
seem fitting to feature a rundown of
Hollywood’s most iconic handguns
without at least one mention of the
famed Colt design.
Although it has gone through
mechanical changes over its 140-
year history (the Single Action Army
is currently in its third generation
of production), the classic outline
of the “Peacemaker” remains very
similar to the original design.
Though thousands of Colt revolv-
ers have appeared in countless
Western films and television shows,
the revolver also served dutifully as
a military sidearm beyond United
States borders, and Gen. George
Patton carried an ivory-handled
Colt throughout World War II.
First generation Colt SAA re-
volvers are among the most valu-
able firearms at auctions, but Colt
Manufacturing continues to produce
Colt 1911 Series 70
these revolvers and a host of other
companies offer replicas. The gun
on display at the NRA Museum is a
prop from the film that was donated
by Selleck.
Editor’s note: These 10 handguns
are certainly iconic, as are the televi-
sion shows and films in which they
appeared. There are many more. Do
you have a favorite handgun that
shows up in a favorite TV show or
flick? Drop us a line at handguns@
OutdOOrsg.cOm.

NRA FIREARMS MUSEUMS

The 15,000-square-foot NRA National Firearms Museum at NRA
headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, houses more than 3,000 guns in 15
different collections. According to the NRA museum website, “Each
gallery is evocative of a period of time in American history, from the
stockade fort at Jamestown to the gun factories of New England.”
In addition to the Hollywood Guns displayed in the William B.
Ruger Gallery, the Robert E. Petersen collection opened in 2010 and
houses some of Petersen’s firearms, including fine bespoke British
double rifles and shotguns and the largest collection of Gatling guns
on display anywhere in the world. The museum is open every day
except Christmas.
In addition, the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum, which is
located at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri, houses a number
of rifles and shotguns owned by American presidents Theodore
Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Grover Cleveland as well as other
famous figures in history like Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest is located at the
NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico, is home to more than
200 guns that were influential in Southwest exploration and settle-
ment. Admission is free to all three museums. For more information
visit NRAmuseum.oRg.
<
The National Firearms Museum hosts the Hollywood
Guns exhibit (top) and the Robert E. Petersen collec-
tion (bottom).

48 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016

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SUPER
STINGER
BY PATRICK SWEENEY

50 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 A
LES BAER’S NEWEST 1911 lot of 9mm fans are kidding

COMBINES CARRY CAPA- themselves. They think the

9mm Luger is a hot round
BILITY AND THE .38 SUPER with warp-speed veloci-

CHAMBERING. ties. Alas, no, but there is

a pistol cartridge that does deliver
the goods: the .38 Super. Unveiled in
1929 and left to languish for decades
after the invention of the .357 Mag-
num, the Super made a comeback in
the early days of action shooting.
When the International Practi-
cal Shooting Confederation went
to high-capacity guns and red-dot
sights, competitors also changed to
screamingly fast jacketed bullets—
115s and 124s—and found the guns
had to be rebuilt to stand up to
that kind of work. Well, some guns,
anyway. All-steel 1911s didn’t need
rebuilding, and once shooters fig-
ured out the proper powders to use,
brass life was excellent.
The Super, in one form or another,
has ruled the IPSC roost for decades
now. But for some reason, the Super
never caught on as a carry gun cali-
ber. At least not until lately, which
Art direction by Heather Ferro

brings me to to the Les Baer 1911 GT

Phoo by Michael Anschuetz

Monolith Stinger.
The GT part of the name is a nod
to Les’s love of muscle cars like the
Ford Mustang GT. Monolith refers
to the shape of the dust cover, which
is not relieved where it encloses the
recoil spring like most 1911s. It’s the
full width of the slide. This design
results in more steel out front, which
adds a bit more weight forward of
your hands and below the bore to
help control recoil. Gun weight in
general tames recoil, but having it
out front has a significant impact.
And it’s called the Stinger because
this is the name Les applies to his
1911s that feature a 4.25-inch Com-
mander-length barrel and Officer’s
grip length—a combination resulting
in a 1911 easier to carry and conceal.
The slide—which, like the frame
and barrel, is forged steel and is
CNC-machined in-house—is classic
in its shape. It has the expected 1911
slab sides, constant radius on top,
with forward-slant cocking serra-

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 51

SUPER STINGER
tions only behind the chamber.
The difference here is the Les
Baer Rolo sights. The tritium front
night sight is installed in a trans-
verse dovetail, left large and sturdy.
The rear also has tritium night sight
inserts, and it follows the old Bo-
mar pattern for its dovetail cut and
installation, but Les sculpts the back
of it so it’s not square.
The sight carries the Les Baer
Custom logo and is adjustable for
windage and elevation. Rather
than hanging off the back of the
slide or be flush with it, the sight is
positioned forward. This provides a
length of steel behind the sight for
added protection.
The barrel features an integral
ramp for sure feeding, and this ramp
also provides additional steel to sup-
port the case. There was a time when
this was needed a lot more than it is
now. With today’s powders we can get
.38 Super velocity without the risk of
blowing cases.
The barrel has a normal bushing at
the muzzle, and the bushing is fitted
a bit too tightly to be disassembled
by hand. Les includes a bushing
wrench in the box. Beneath the bar-
rel is a normal recoil spring guide
rod and retainer—no full-length
rods here. Since the slide is shorter
than Government length, the recoil
guide rod is obviously shorter, but
it is a normal piece. You can have a
full-length guide rod if you want one
since Les is, after all, running a cus-
tom 1911 shop. The barrel links up
onto a classically shaped, checkered
slide stop.
I have resisted the temptation to
throw in “match” every time I men-
tion the barrel, but the fact is there’s

THE .38 SUPER

The .38 Super originated as the .38 Auto
in 1899, developed by none other than
John Browning. Colt got back to it in
1929, and it increased the velocity of the
130-grain full-metal-jacket bullet from
the nearly 1,100 fps of the .38 Auto load
to 1,300 fps for its “Super” 1911. After
World War II, when some earlier cartridges
were being improved, SAAMI adopted the
+P designation, indicating plus pressure.
However, the .38 Super didn’t really
change, as it had been (as the Super) in
the same pressure league as the 9mm
Luger—in the mid 30,000 psi range. It
wasn’t until 1974 that the +P designation
The gun gets its Monolith handle from the dust cover, which is not relieved.
<

was added to the .38 Super as a way of

This adds a bit of weight out front and helps to tame recoil.
further clarifying the Super was a much
different animal the old .38 Auto.
So how does the Super deliver more ACCURACY RESULTS | LES BAER 1911 GT MONOLITH STINGER
speed than a 9mm Luger, when they have Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
.38 Super Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)
essentially the same pressure limits?
Powder selection and actual pressure Corbon P’wrBall 100 1,510 7.7 2.25
Federal American Eagle JHP 115 1,082 27.2 1.50
limits. The greater capacity of the Super
Buffalo Bore TAC-XP 115 1,334 7.9 1.75
allows ballisticians to shift to slightly
Doubletap TAC-XP 115 1,311 32.9 1.75
slower-burning powders and stay within Doubletap Nosler JHP 115 1,425 10.7 2.00
pressure limits. Wilson Combat TAC-XP 115 1,288 3.0 2.00
It doesn’t hurt that the 1911, the Sierra FMJ* 115 1,038 16.3 3.00
platform most Supers are built in, is so Buffalo Bore JHP 124 1,294 4.5 1.50
anvil-tough that ammunition makers Wilson Combat XTP 124 1,288 18.7 1.75
know they can push up against the pres- Buffalo Bore FMJ-FN 124 1,315 15.9 2.00
sure ceiling in Super. In 9mm, they have Corbon JHP 125 1,337 18.6 2.00
to consider there are a lot of owners using Winchester Silvertip 125 1,147 11.7 2.00
compact pistols, and it is not unusual Armscor FMJ 125 1,081 18.8 2.25
American Eagle FMJ 130 1,160 8.2 1.50
for 9mm ammo to be loaded not quite to
Remington FMJ 130 1,045 8.4 2.25
30,000 psi. The extra weight and strength
Doubletap FMJ 147 1,178 7.6 2.00
of all-steel construction lets Super owners
Notes: (*handload) Accuracy results are averages of five five-shot groups at 25 yards off a Sinclair front shooting rest.
reap more of that.—PS Velocities are averages of 10 shots measured on a LabRadar chronograph set to record 15 feet from the muzzle. Abbre-
viations: FMJ, full metal jacket; JHP, jacketed hollowpoint

52 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

no such thing as a Les Baer barrel
that isn’t a match barrel. I asked Les
about what kind of accuracy he was
seeing in his .38 Super barrels, and
he told me he was getting sub-three-
inch groups at 50 yards with Federal
American Eagle 130-grain full metal
jackets. That’s match performance.
Les makes his own firing pins—and
all other parts on his guns except the
Wolff springs and outsourced wood
grips. All his pistols, regardless of
caliber, are fitted with the small-
pistol firing pin designed for the
9mm/.38 Super.
The firing pin nose and shaft right
behind it have a diameter of only .067
inch, and the clearance hole in the
slide is as small as possible while still
providing a trouble-free fit. This is
to prevent primer flow into the firing
pin hole should you encounter

The barrel bushing that mates to

<

the match barrel is too tight to work

by hand, but Les Baer includes a
wrench. The gun sports a standard
guide rod.

The Rolo sight is a Les Baer

<

creation, and the rear night sight is in

the Bomar style but is sculpted at the
rear.

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 53

SUPER STINGER
ammunition that is hotter than it sure to make the hammer fall.
should be. The ambidextrous safety clicks up
Like everything else on the gun, and down with a satisfying crisp-
the controls of the 1911 GT Monolith ness. The beavertail has a “speed
Stinger are masterfully hand fitted. bump” at the bottom to ensure your
There is a Commander hammer hand presses it all the way in; the
nestling into a high-rise beavertail. beavertail clears the trigger bow at
The trigger is aluminum, has three the halfway point.
lightening holes and connects to the The frontstrap of the Monolith
sear and disconnector with minimal Stinger is hand-checkered. Hand-
take-up. Once you take up the slack, cut checkering typically has some
there is no real perception of creep, irregularities, and in examining the
and all it takes is 3.5 pounds of pres- 30 lpi pattern on the pistol I actually
This is one great-shooting gun, with most
<
25-yard grips coming in at two inches or less
with a wide variety of Super ammo.
54 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
thought its execution was too good to
have been done by hand.
“No, it is hand-cut,” Les said. “I’ll
never have machine-cut checkering,
not as long as I can find ’smiths who
can hand-cut checkering properly.”
The Stinger’s checkering is well
beyond “proper.” It’s master-class
level. If your hands are tough
enough and you want it, Les will do
20 lpi checkering, but the standard-
offering 30 lpi will be a lot kinder to
your hands.
The flat mainspring housing is
not checkered but features vertical
grooves, and the cocobolo grips are
offered in either all-checkered or
double-diamond checkering. The
magazine well is gently beveled for
faster reloads without being bulky.
When you receive a Les Baer,
you get two obvious proofs of the
care that went into it. Each pistol
comes with a certificate—signed by
all those involved in its assembly,
testing and packing. And if you take
your Les Baer 1911 apart, you’ll see
the major parts have matching num-
bers. Yep, the slide, barrel, bushing
and slide stop all bear the last three
digits of the frame’s serial number.
Since it is a Stinger and has an
Officer’s frame, the Monolith Stinger
doesn’t hold as many rounds as a
Government-size 1911 would. The
1911 GT Monolith Stinger comes
with three Les Baer magazines, and
since they are proportioned to fit
the Stinger frame, they hold “only”
eight rounds of .38 Super. However,
the pistol will accept regular-length
magazines, so you can easily have
nine or 10 rounds on the reload.
Test-firing was as expected. No
failures, no problems, no drama.
I tested loads ranging from really
light practice ammo to the hottest
carry ammo. All the ammo worked
as you’d expect, and while the recoil
differences between them were
readily noticeable, not even the
hottest were anything you’d call op-
pressive. An all-steel 1911 isn’t going
to kick very much, and the recoil of
the .38 Super is a lot easier than that
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
 of a .45. Plus, as I mentioned, the
Monolithic design puts weight out
front where it does the most good at
taming recoil.
Anyone who has ever handled a
Les Baer 1911 comments on the bar-
rel lockup. Les likes a hard lockup,
and his pistols do not open easily.
You have to “pop” the slide open. I’ll
admit it can make a press-check a
with the hottest ammo, and that was
more a matter of the loud muzzle LES BAER CUSTOM
blast and a covered firing line. 1911 GT MONOLITH STINGER
The Super is hot, and heat is TYPE: 1911
what kills barrels, so I asked Les CALIBER: .38 Super (tested), .45 ACP
CAPACITY: 8+1 (as tested)
about service life. “I’ve got a test
BARREL: 4.25 in.
Super here with over 38,000 rounds
WEIGHT: 37 oz. (as tested)
through it, and it is still doing under FINISH: blue
three inches at 50 yards,” he said. GRIPS: cocobolo
Some might consider the Les Baer SIGHTS: Les Baer Custom Rolo night

bit more work, but it does not affect
reliability.
I tested the Monolith Stinger with
a 115-grain handload. It travels just
under the speed of sound and does
not have a whole lot of excess energy
to work an otherwise recalcitrant
pistol. If any load was going to choke
the Stinger, this would be it. It did
not, and the pistol locked open when
the magazine was empty.
As for the accuracy Les men-
tioned, this pistol delivered all that
and more. The only groups larger
than two inches at 25 yards came
™
Guide Rod Laser
1911 GT Monolith Stinger a bit on the
heavy side for a carry gun. Yes, there
are pistols lighter to carry. But the
weight makes the recoil cost of hot
.38 Super ammo not that big a deal.
The compact size of the slide and
frame makes it less likely to poke or
gouge you in places where a larger
pistol would be making life miser-
able.
The shorter frame does cut into
magazine capacity, but that is only
with the flush magazines propor-
tioned for an Officer’s frame. Full-
size .38 Super magazines, which are
TRIGGER: single action, 3.5 lb. pull (mea-
sured)
PRICE: $3,090
MANUFACTURER: Les Baser Custom,
LesBaer.com
easy to obtain, give you 10 rounds
each, so a basic carry ensemble of
pistol and two spares would come to
29 rounds.
Do you need a carry gun that
retails for a bit over $3,000? No, but
you also don’t need an SUV with
more communication and navigation
electronics than the space shuttle
had, either.

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LEGION
OF MERIT
BY JAMES TARR
SIG’S NEW LEGION PISTOL SERIES
DESERVES A MEDAL FOR ALL THE
FEATURES IT OFFERS.
S
IG Sauer has been producing
its P-series of pistols (P220,
P226, etc.) for decades, and
while these guns have been
commercially successful,
they are perhaps best known for
being “duty” weapons. Law enforce-
ment agencies and military units
around the world have been taking
SIGs into harm’s way for a long time.
As a rule these pistols are reli-
able and accurate, but they are not
perfect. Since nearly day one SIG has
received feedback from the serious
users of its firearms as to how they
could be improved, and as a result of
that feedback SIG has introduced the
Legion series of pistols.
SIG is advertising the Legion
series as “Serious tools for serious
users,” and the first models to get
the Legion upgrade are SIG’s most
popular: the P229, P226 and P226
SAO. While the Legion pistols are
designed to fit inside standard duty
holsters they have been seriously
improved using the input of profes-
sional users. Not only are the pistols
56 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
upgraded, but the purchase of
a Legion pistol will give the
buyer access to exclusive gear
and accessories from SIG not
available to the general pub-
lic—including Legion-branded
holsters, cases and limited-edi-
tion knives. SIG also plans quar-
terly newsletters to Legion owners,
as well as exclusive members-only
opportunities.
I received a P229 Legion in 9mm
for review. All of the Legion pistols
are the current R series of pistols,
which means they have tactical rails
on the frames, but SIG seems to have
dropped the R suffix on all its no-
menclature. The P229 is the compact
version of the P226 and is available
in 9mm, .40 S&W and .357 SIG.
This pistol has a 3.9-inch barrel
and weighs 29.6 ounces empty. It
has a stainless steel slide and an
aluminum frame. It comes with three
15-round magazines in 9mm, 12 in
.40 S&W or .357 SIG.
How are the Legion pistols differ-
ent? Many manufacturers put out
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 57
LEGION OF MERIT
“special editions” of pistols with
unique features, but many of those
features are simply cosmetic. That is
not the case with these SIGs.
SIG itself says these pistols are
not designed for the new shooter or
casual consumer, and I would have to
agree. Most of the improvements to
While there’s a host of features
<
the pistols will be wasted on people
who don’t have a lot of time behind
the gun. For instance, my brother
recently retired from federal law
enforcement and bought a SIG P229
in .357 SIG because that’s what he
carried for 20 years, but he only shot
it when he had to qualify. He’s not a
gun guy. The improvements on this
gun would be wasted on him (sorry,
John).
You’ll note the Legion P229 has a
gray finish that resembles Parkeriz-
ing. It is in fact a corrosion-resistant
PVD (physical vapor deposition)
coating in Legion Gray. The top of
the slide just forward of the rear
sight has been etched with the
Legion logo, a Greek Lambda, and
the word “LEGION.” Putting the logo
here means it will be visible even
when the pistol is in a holster.
Also specific to these pistols are
the Legion logo grips. Forget the
Legion medallion—what makes these
grips great is that they are aggres-
sively checkered G10 laminate and
also thin, which is important on a
gun that’s a little chunky. Between
the finish and black grips the pistol
has an attractive but businesslike
people, including me, shoot with a
thumb-high hold, but if you try that
with a SIG, you’ll find your thumb
holding down the slide release, and
the slide never locks back on an emp-
ty magazine. More on this in a bit.
The checkering on the front of the
frame has been made more aggres-
sive, and there is an X-Five-style un-
dercut underneath the trigger guard
to get the shooter’s hand as high as
possible on the grip. The pistol also
sports an Elite-style beavertail,
although it is slightly reduced in size
and contoured, and the Legion P229
also borrows the Elite’s forward
cocking serrations.
There is checkering on the under-
side of the trigger guard, near the
front. I first saw this on competition
pistols more than 10 years ago, and it
never made sense to me. Checkering
traditionally helps you hold onto a
gun, but as soon as you pull the trig-
ger the gun recoils upward, and that
checkering on the underside of the
trigger guard pulls off the top of your
finger, which means it’s useless.
The SIG people explained to me
that users who often wear gloves
while shooting two-handed like the

look to it. checkering underneath the trigger

that set the new series apart from
standard SIGs, you still have to call
attention that it’s a Legion—hence
the markings atop the slide.
The redesigned slide release lessens the chance the shooter’s thumb will
<
Both the decocker and the slide
stop have been reduced in size. Many
guard because it helps lock the gun
into place and keep the muzzle from
wiggling side to side as they’re pull-
ing the trigger. Consider me enlight-
ened. Compared to traditional check-
ering, which helps after the trigger
pull, checkering on the underside of
the trigger guard helps before and
during the trigger pull.
The main complaint I and every
other fan of SIG pistols historically
have had is the too-heavy double-
action trigger pull. The quickest fix
to this has been to install a lightened
hammer spring, but many people
don’t feel comfortable doing that.
Plus, it violates and therefore voids
the factory warranty.
The double-action trigger pull
on my sample P229 Legion was
so smooth and light that during a

activate it by accident, and the grips are not only aggressive but also slimmer. conference call with the SIG people I
The trigger is the best stock SIG Tarr has ever shot. specifically asked if they’d installed

58 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

a reduced-power hammer spring.
Nope, the excellent trigger pull was
solely the result of the improved trig-
ger components.
Bruce Gray is a gunsmith famous
for his work on SIGs and his custom
GrayGuns SIG parts. I have a few of
his improved parts on my own pistols.
The P229 Legion features a Gray-
Guns intermediate adjustable trigger
that’s adjustable for overtravel and
an enhanced, polished action, using
SIG’s Short Reset Trigger (SRT). The
result is a trigger pull that is…well,
here’s how I put it in an email to a
SIG representative:
“FYI, DA pull on my sample was
only 8.75 pounds, which is freaking
fantastic for a full-power hammer
spring. A reduced power would prob-
ably knock another pound off that,
but still, a sub-9-pound DA trigger
notch was square, but U-notch ver-
sions are available. There is a tritium
insert in the front sight as well, but
it is surrounded by a large bright
green ring for use in daylight. This is
SIG’s answer to Trijicon’s similar HD
sights, which are considered by many
to be the best “combat” sight on the
market.
The P229 Legion has the same
length tactical rail as the P226, which
means full-size lights and lasers will
fit on it. The recoil spring guide rod
has been replaced by a solid steel
guide rod, and all of the Legion
models—P229, P226, and P226 SAO—
have the same upgraded features,
although the SAO doesn’t have a de-
cocker, and its standard curved trig-
ger has been replaced with a Master
Shop Super Match Flat trigger.
After my first range session with
too hot to touch. I put eight different
types of ammo through the pistol (six
of them jacketed hollowpoints), a to-
tal of 300 rounds or so that first trip,
and didn’t have a single malfunction.
Stuffing the 15th round inside the
magazines took a bit of work when
they were fresh, but it got easier.
SIG SAUER
P229 LEGION
TYPE: hammer-fired DA/SA semiauto
CALIBER: 9mm Luger
CAPACITY: 15+1 (where legal)
BARREL LENGTH: 3.9 in.
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 7.4/5.4/1.4 in.
WEIGHT: 29.6 oz.
SIGHTS: X-Ray tritium
TRIGGER: 8.75 lb. DA, 3.75 lb. SA
(measured)
PRICE: $1,428
MANUFACTURER: SIG Sauer, sig-sauer.com

pull on a SIG factory gun is unheard
of, and it was totally smooth. SA pull
was 3.75 pounds too.” The standard
SIG double-action pull is one to two
pounds heavier (or more) than this
and gritty.
After 500 or so pulls of the trigger
the double-action pull on the pistol
dropped half a pound, which is quite
common as trigger parts tend to
polish each other with use, while the
single-action pull stayed the same.
I recently heard a tactical train-
the P229 Legion, I came to the
realization that even though it is a
“compact” version of the venerable
P226, between the aggressive grip-
ping area and excellent trigger this
P229 was as easy to shoot fast and
accurately as a full-size P226 with a
factory trigger, if not easier. Whether
I was doing double taps on targets 15
yards away, cleaning a Texas star, or
running plate racks, this gun handled
like a full-size pistol.
My first range trip I deliberately
Legion guns come with SIG’s new
<

ing guru say, “If you complain about abused the SIG and shot it so much X-Ray sights, which are great not just
trigger pulls, you’re not a good shot.” and so fast the front of the slide grew for nighttime but also in bright
conditions.
Like most gurus he has internalized
his opinions as fact. My response is,
“If you can’t shoot any better with a
good trigger than a bad one, you’re
doing something wrong.” SIG agrees
that better trigger pulls make for bet-
ter shooting, which is why the Legion
series has the lightest, smoothest
trigger pulls I’ve ever felt on SIG
guns outside of those worked on by
gunsmiths.
SIG tops its standard pistols with
traditional three-dot sights, which
work but are not the best choice. Atop
the Legion pistol are the new X-Ray
high visibility day/night sights. The
rear sight is plain black with a tritium A benefit to buying the Legion is the opportunity to buy exclusive products
<

insert on either side of the notch. My such as Black Point holster and magazine pouch.

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 59

LEGION OF MERIT
Dropping the slide even on a SIG for this redesign. The explanation for this was coined
loaded magazine using the reduced The only surprises I received were decades ago by Robert Heinlein with
slide stop takes quite a bit of effort, the velocities I saw when I chrono- his acronym TANSTAAFL—There
and you’re better off just working graphed the loads. The P229 felt and Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free
the slide. The best part? I found even shot so much like a full-size gun I Lunch. Any gun small enough to
shooting with my usual thumb-high forgot the barrel is only 3.9 inches. conceal easily has a shorter barrel,
hold the SIG’s slide locked back for When compared to the published ve- which gives you lower velocities.
me on empty magazines every time. locities of ammo, which are obtained You’ll need to be more judicious
That’s never happened to me before through test barrels (roughly what when picking your carry ammo, as
because, as I mentioned earlier in you’ll get out of a five-inch gun), the some brands use powder that doesn’t
the article, usually my thumb always P229 printed velocities that were 50 give up as much oomph in short bar-
holds the slide stop down. Kudos to to 120 fps slower. rels. Every cartridge you see listed
in the table had roughly the same felt
recoil except for the SIG Elite full-
ACCURACY RESULTS | SIG SAUER P229 LEGION metal-jacket stuff, which felt hotter
Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
9mm Luger Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)
and posted the fastest velocities.
After shooting the pistol to make
Black Hills TAC-XP+P 115 1,118 11 1.8
sure it went bang, and then shooting
SIG Elite FMJ 115 1,135 21 2.2
ZQI FMJ 123 1,101 8 2.2 it some more to make sure it worked
Hornady XTP 124 1,017 10 1.7 with every type of ammo I could
Federal HST JHP 124 1,090 23 2.0 find, and shooting it even more until
SIG Elite JHP 124 1,077 27 2.1 I trusted it with my life, I loaded it
Hornady Critical Duty +P 135 1,038 10 1.9 up with jacketed hollowpoints and
Winchester Defend JHP 147 913 28 2.4 proceeded to carry it in the provided
Notes: Accuracy results are the averages of four five-shot groups at 25 yards from a sandbag rest. Velocities are aver- exclusive SIG Legion belt holster from
ages of 10 shots measured with an Oehler Model 35P 12 feet from the muzzle. Abbreviations: FMJ, full metal jacket; JHP,
jacketed hollowpoint Black Point Tactical, available to reg-

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istered Legion owners. A spare mag
went into a matching pouch on my
left side. The pistol stayed on my hip
every day for three weeks, including a
five-day, 1,100-mile road trip.
I’d never heard of Black Point
Tactical before, but apparently the
trainers at the SIG Academy discov-
ered its products some time ago and
really liked them. The holster itself is
Kydex, with leather wings for the belt
slots. The spare mag pouch is similar-
ly designed. Using flexible leather to
mount the belt slots allows the holster
to fit more closely to the body.
The belt holster was comfortable
and kept the gun tucked in nicely,
although it holds the pistol high on
the belt. You’ll need a sturdy belt to
keep the pistol from flopping, but it
hid well and I almost forgot about it
sitting on it in the car.
I wrote up SIG’s P226 SAO for
Handguns several years ago and
liked it so much that not only did I
buy it, I carry it about six months
of the year. After living with it for
several months I customized it—not
for looks but for performance. Every
improvement I made to my personal
SIG, every single one, I found echoed
in the Legion series of guns. Every
one of the Legion-specific upgraded
features is functional and has been
done for a purpose, and the end
result is a definite product improve-
ment when compared to the standard
factory pistol.
The final verdict? The SIG P229 Le-
gion is as close to perfection as you’re
going to find in this pistol design,
with two exceptions. I still prefer the
Trijicon HD sights to the SIG X-Rays.
Even though the X-Ray sights are an
improvement over the standard SIG
sights, I prefer the orange front sight
color available on the Trijicon offer-
ing. Also, the slide serrations are not
as aggressive as I think they should
be, but that goes for all the P229s, not
just the Legion edition.
Is it worth the money? The clerk
at my local FFL where I picked up
the pistol is a SIG fan but was a bit
hesitant at the $1,428 suggested retail
(street price will probably be about
$1,300). In response I pointed into the
counter directly below the SIG where
a non-SIG two-tone Commander-size
1911 lay. It was a nice looking gun but
wasn’t anything special, and it had
a price tag of $1,459. An eight-shot
pistol which is probably reliable with
the right magazines versus a limited
edition semi-custom 15-shot pistol
known for unfailing reliability? That
math isn’t so hard to do.
Getting the Legion edition will cost
you about $250 more than a standard
P229, but you could easily spend far
more than that getting a trigger job
and putting different sights on the
pistol. Plus, buying a Legion won’t
just put a well-made limited-edition
pistol in your hands; it will get you
into an exclusive club with benefits
all its own. How many other guns
can say that?

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 | FIRING LINE REPORT | BY JAMES TARR

HECKLER & KOCH P30SK

INTRODUCED IN 2006, THE P30 FROM
Heckler & Koch has been a successful
pistol. A polymer-framed double-action/
single-action autoloader chambered in
9mm or .40 S&W, the P30 offered many
unique features. Now HK has intro-
duced the P30SK, a cut-down version
sure to appeal to many CCW holders.
HK intended the P30 to be an ideal
pistol for law enforcement, and all the
there are six different variations of it.
My sample gun is the most com-
mon variation you’ll find, and it has a
suggested retail price of $719. It has the
standard DA/SA trigger pack instead
of the double-action-only trigger found
on the law enforcement version, and it
has steel sights with photo-luminescent
dots instead of tritium night sights. It
also has a rear decocker and no manual
HECKLER & KOCH
P30SK
TYPE: hammer-fired DA/SA semiauto
CALIBER: 9mm Luger
CAPACITY: 10+1
BARREL LENGTH: 3.27 in.
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 6.4/4.6/1.4 in.
WEIGHT: 24 oz.
CONSTRUCTION: polymer frame, steel slide
SIGHTS: 3-dot luminescent
TRIGGER: DA, 11.75 lb.; SA, 5.5 lb. (mea-

features seen on the full-size gun you’ll
find on the P30SK as well. However,
while the P30 is chambered in both
9mm and .40 S&W, at the moment the
P30SK is available only in 9mm—but
frame-mounted safety and is supplied sured)
SAFETY: firing pin
with two 10-round magazines. You can
PRICE: $719
use 15-round magazines designed for MANUFACTURER: Heckler & Koch,
the full-size P30 in this pistol, although hk-usa.com
they will protrude from the grip.

64 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

 The P30SK has a 3.27-inch barrel
and is 6.42 inches long by 4.52 inches
tall. The frame is made of polyamide,
a high-tech nylon related to Kevlar and
widely used in the transportation indus-
try due to its strength.
The clerk at my local gun store called
the pistol “chubby,” and I can’t say he’s
wrong. Maybe it’s not thick but just
“under-tall.” Either way, it fills the hand
much more than you would expect from
a pistol with these dimensions—at least
with the factory-chosen grip choices.
With the P30SK, both the back-
strap and side grip panels of the pistol
frame are interchangeable. The large
backstrap and medium grip panels
are installed at the factory. The small
backstrap is quite a bit smaller. All sizes
are provided with the pistol, in cutouts
in the foam interior of the case.
This pistol has European looks, with a
finger-grooved frame and curving front
and rear flat-bottomed slide serrations.
The slide has HK’s corrosion resis-
tant “hostile environment” finish. The
rear sight is a no-snag type, the front
a simple post, but both are steel and
dovetailed into the slide.
The gun has an external rounded
hammer that does not protrude much
when cocked. The decocker is a flat
serrated tab at the rear of the slide
to the left of the hammer; you pull it
down to decock. I’m sure someone will
be able to decock a P30SK acciden-
tally—the world’s awash in clumsy—but
it’s not easy because the tab is small.
There is an automatic hammer and fir-
ing pin safety inside the slide.
The cold-hammer-forged barrel has
polygonal rifling, which means no lead
bullets down the bore because with
this kind of rifling lead can build up in
the barrel and eventually cause a barrel
bulge. The frame has a three-slot MIL-
STD 1913 accessory rail.
Double-action pull on my sample was
smooth, stacking slightly at the end, for
a total pull weight of 11.75 pounds. In
single action there was a quarter-inch of
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
take-up, then a smooth 5.5-pound break.
The trigger itself is polymer and curved,
with three serrations down the middle.
Except for the almost comically long
ambidextrous slide release levers, the
sides of the pistol are free of controls.
HK pistols feature European-style mag
releases, in this case an ambi lever at
the bottom rear of the trigger guard. It’s Save for the long slide release
<
not as easy for most people to work as levers, the side of the P30SK’s slide
is bare of controls. The trigger is a
an American-style push-button mag DA/SA with pulls of 11.75 and 5.5
release, and I recommend trying the pounds respectively.
middle finger of your shooting hand. It
sounds awkward, but it works.
HK refers to this pistol as a “subcom-
pact” version of the P30 (the SK stands
for “SubKompact”). To my mind, a
“subcompact” pistol is one that fits eas-
ily into a pocket, and while the P30SK is
much smaller than the P30 and is easily
concealable in a purse or a holster, it’s
definitely too big for a pocket.
When you pull off the slide, you’ll
see the SK has a rather involved recoil The P30SK’s hammer doesn’t
<
system: one fat spring on a steel protrude much when cocked, and
next to it is a decocker that’s unlikely
cylinder around a smaller spring on the to be activated accidentally. The steel
guide rod itself. Seeing it, I assumed sights have photo-luminescent dots.
felt recoil would be tamed somewhat,
and I wasn’t wrong. I can get two and
a half fingers on the grip of the P30 SK,
so between the palm-filling grip and the
dual recoil springs, this compact pistol
was nearly as controllable to shoot
as a full-size gun. For a DA/SA auto it
also has a surprisingly low bore, which
added to the controllability.
While the European pedigree means
this HK will cost a bit more than if it was The gun comes with interchange-
<
made in the States, it is a solid carry able side panels and backstraps, and
the magazine release is a European-
gun at a good price. style lever on the trigger guard.
ACCURACY RESULTS | HECKLER & KOCH P30SK
Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
9MM LUGER Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)
ZQI FMJ 123 1,129 18 2.8
Black Hills JHP 124 1,052 17 2.7
SIG Elite JHP 124 1,098 14 2.6
Hornady XTP 124 1,089 8 2.4
Notes: Accuracy results are the averages of four five-shot groups at 25 yards from a sandbag rest. Velocities are aver-
ages of 10 shots measured with an Oehler Model 35P 12 feet from the muzzle. Abbreviations: FMJ, full metal jacket; JHP,
jacketed hollowpoint
APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 65
 | FIRING LINE REPORT | BY PAUL SCARLATA | PHOTOS BY BECKY LEAVITT

AMERICAN CLASSIC 1911 COMMANDER

FOR THE PAST 100 OR SO YEARS, DOZENS
of arms makers and military arsenals
around the world have produced 1911
pistols, and one of the newest is the
Philippine firm Metro Arms Corp.,
which is located in Manila.
imports six versions of the MAC 1911: METRO ARMS CORP.
the Classic, Classic Bullseye, Bobcut, AMERICAN CLASSIC
SSD, SSD Tactical and the American
Classic Commander, which is the
COMMANDER
TYPE: 1911
newest addition to the line and the CALIBER: 9mm Luger, .45 ACP (tested)
subject of this report. CAPACITY: 8 (as tested)

Metro Arms Corp., better known as
MAC, was organized and established
in the 1990s by Don Hector Rodri-
guez, a serious competitive shooter,
in order to offer shooters high-quality
pistols at an affordable price. Today
The American Classic is a tradi-
tional Commander-style pistol with
a 4.25-inch barrel and full-size grip
frame. But tradition ends there as
it features just about every bell and
whistle demanded by today’s 1911
BARREL: 4.25 in.
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH (IN.): 7.5/5.5/1.25
WEIGHT: 35.2 oz.
CONSTRUCTION: hard-chrome 4140 forged
steel frame and slide
GRIPS: diamond-cut mahogany
SIGHTS: Novak-style low profile rear; white

Metro Arms pistols are marketed in
Asia, Europe and North and South
America.
Here in the U.S., MAC pistols are
imported by Eagle Imports of Wana-
massa, New Jersey. Eagle currently
aficionados—at least those who don’t
scoff at embellishments.
The American Classic I received
had the optional hard chrome finish,
which is sort of halfway between
matte and bright in appearance, and
dot front
TRIGGER: three hole; 4.8 lb. pull (measured)
SAFETY: thumb, grip
PRICE: $719
MANUFACTURER: Metro Arms Corp.
IMPORTER: Eagle Imports, E aglEImportsInc.com

66 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

look as I might I could not find the
minutest flaw. This type of finish pro-
vides superior protection to wear and
environmental extremes.
The slide has square-cut grasping
grooves for positive retraction, even
with wet or oily hands, and dovetail
cuts fore and aft accommodate No-
vak-type, low-profile rear sights with
white dots. To make sure spent cases
get out of the way reliably, the ejection
port has been lowered and flared.
The steel frame is undercut be-
hind the trigger guard so the shooter
can get a high grip on the pistol. To
improve handling, MAC fitted an
extended beavertail grip safety with
a palm swell, extended thumb safety
(left side only) and slide stop. The
trigger can be adjusted for overtravel
and has a checkered face so you can
position your trigger finger securely.
The hammer has a unique-looking
filigreed design in its loop.
Grip panels made from Philippine
mahogany have a scaled pattern
that contrasts attractively with the
chrome finish while providing a secure
purchase. The American Classic’s
single-column, eight-round magazines
are fitted with polymer bumper pads
for positive insertion during reloads,
and the bumper pads also protect the
magazines if they are ejected onto a
hard surface.
Internally, the American Classic is
just the way John Browning designed
the original 1911: a non-ramped barrel
held in place by a muzzle bushing and
the original recoil system with short
guide rod. The firing system is as it
should be. None of that Series 80
foolishness, thank you.
Accuracy testing was performed at
the regulation 25 yards from an MTM
K-Zone rest with four different brands
of factory ammo and one of my fa-
vorite plinking handloads with Berry’s
185-grain plated hollow base bullet.
I’m impressed anytime I can fire
sub-two inch groups at 25 yards from
WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
a pistol right out of the box, and that’s
exactly what I did with this one. In
fact, my best performance was a pair
of matching 1.8-inch groups fired with
the Remington and Hornady loads,
and none of the groups I fired was
larger than 3.5 inches.
I also set up a Birchwood Casey
IPSC target and shot it with hardball The trigger is a three-hole type,
<
from five, 10 and 15 yards. The sights with a checkered face and overtravel
adjustment. The mahogany grips are
were easy to acquire and provided attractive, but the smooth frontstrap
a sharp sight picture. Recoil was allowed the gun to move in the hands.
controllable thanks to the pistol’s all-
steel construction, and it proved easy
enough to put rounds into the higher
scoring sections of the target.
But while the pistol felt great in
my hands—hey, it is a 1911—the
hard chrome finish on the smooth
frontstrap was too slick, and the gun
moved around in my hand under
recoil, forcing me to regrip every few
shots. Some checkering or texturing < Both the slide stop and thumb
in this area would be most welcome. safety are extended, although the
author found his thumb hitting the
Also, my preferred shooting grip slide stop—preventing the slide from
places my support hand thumb along locking back on an empty mag.
the left side of the frame, and on sev-
eral occasions I inadvertently rested
it on the extended slide stop, which
resulted in the slide running forward
when the magazine was empty rather
than locking back. I have never been a
fan of extended slide stops and would
like to see MAC at least offer the op-
tion of a standard size unit.
Other than those two caveats, I
found the American Classic 1911
The rear of the slide has square-cut
<
Commander to be quality made,
grasping grooves for sure operation,
handsome looking and fine shooting— and the gun ships with a Novak-style
all at an attractive price. low-profile rear sight.
ACCURACY RESULTS | MAC AMERICAN CLASSIC COMMANDER
Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
.45 ACP Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)
Federal Guard Dog 165 1,093 26 3.3
Winchester Silvertip 185 947 32 3.0
Hornady Critical Duty +P 230 861 19 2.3
Remington FMJ 230 812 29 2.5
Berry’s Plated hollow base* 185 839 31 2.8
Notes: (*Handload) Accuracy results are averages of five five-shot groups fired from an MTM K-Zone rest at 25 yards. Veloci-
ties are averages of 10 rounds measured on a Chrony chronograph set 10 feet from muzzle. Abbreviation: FMJ, full metal jacket
APRIL/MAY 2016 HANDGUNS 67
 | FIRING LINE REPORT | BY STAN TRZONIEC
THOMPSON/CENTER G2 CONTENDER
I CAN’T IMAGINE A TIME WHEN I DID NOT
have a Contender in my possession. As
a fan of single-shot firearms, the Con-
tender and its sibling, the Encore, have
been the subject of many tests, wildcat
adventures with numerous cartridges
and good times in the field—plus trips
to the old Thompson/Center factory in
Rochester, New Hampshire, to talk to
the folks up there and shoot many vari-
ants of their fine firearms.
Today, the company is owned by
Smith & Wesson and all manufacturing
has been moved to a facility in Spring-
field, Massachusetts, and it has taken
a while to get the Contenders back in
production. Now both the G2 Contender
rifle and the handgun are here and
ready to go.
The handgun is sold as a complete
pistol in either .22 LR or the .357
68 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
Magnum I tested. However, the new G2
Contender accepts all previous Con-
tender barrels, and current pistol barrels
include .17 HMR, .22 LR, .204 Ruger,
.223 Remington, 6.8 SPC, 7-30 Waters,
.30-30 Winchester, .357 Magnum, .44
Magnum and .45 Colt/.410 (not for sale
in California). Depending on caliber, you
have a choice of 12- or 14-inch bar-
rels, and stainless barrels are an option
with some chamberings. Pistol barrels
come with sights, but you can get the
hardware you need to mount a scope
through T/C or other aftermarket outlets.
The pistol kits are currently sold
with the walnut grip and fore-end/blue
receiver frame assembly, but synthetic
grip and fore-end/stainless receiver
frame assemblies are available through
T/C; frame assemblies must be pur-
chased through an FFL.
THOMPSON/CENTER
G2 CONTENDER
TYPE: single-shot, break-open handgun
CALIBER: .357 Magnum
WEIGHT: 3.5 lb.
BARREL: 12 in. (as tested)
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 15.5/6.5/1.75 in.
METAL: satin blue
GRIPS: satin-finished select walnut
SIGHTS: fully adjustable rear, blade front
TRIGGER: non-adjustable, 6 lb. pull (mea-
sured)
SAFETY: hammer-mounted 3-position switch
PRICE: $729
MANUFACTURER: Thompson/Center,
TCarms.Com
The Generation 2 frame was intro-
duced around 2005 and is a scaled-
down Encore frame with a newer trigger
group and safety features all made on
updated machinery. Changes included
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 | FIRING LINE REPORT | THOMPSON/CENTER G2 CONTENDER
more clearance between the trig-
ger guard and grip as well as a new
grip profile that made the gun easier to
shoot. A new hammer block allows the
shooter to cock the hammer, lower it
and recock it again without the need to
open the action.
Thompson/Center Contenders have
always been high quality, and the
new G2 sample met my expectations.
The receiver is well made with no tool
marks, and it’s finished to a satin blue
worthy of a custom handgun. Regret-
tably, there is no etching on the sides,
and the famous puma that graced the
original Contender is gone. Perhaps
it finally jumped off the rock and went
on its way. But the receiver is still trim,
which means it will carry nicely all day
in a shoulder holster.
The hinge pin is closely fitted but is
easily removed for changing barrels.
The trigger guard is smaller than earlier,
non-G2 models, and there is no trigger
adjustment or overtravel screw. The
trigger pull on my own, well-broken-in
Contender can be adjusted to less than
three pounds. The new, non-adjustable
trigger measured a tad over six pounds
on average, and I think that’s a shame
because I really liked the versatility of-
fered by the lighter pull.
The safety is located on the ham-
mer spur. If you thumb it to the left, it’s
set up to Fire for centerfires, centered
the gun is on Safe, and to the right is

ACCURACY RESULTS | THOMPSON/CENTER CONTENDER G2

Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
Cartridge Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)

.38 Special
Hornady Custom XTP 158 821 31 1.5
.357 Magnum
Remington SJHP 158 1,609 19 3.5
The G2 Contender pistols feature a

<
Winchester Silvertip HP 145 1,718 35 3.0 target-quality, fully adjustable rear
Notes: Accuracy results are averages of five five-shot groups at 25 yards from a sandbag rest. Velocity figures are five- sight, and the three-position safety on
five-shot averages recorded on an Oehler Model 35P chronograph. Abbreviations: HP, hollowpoint; SJHP, semi-jacketed the hammer spur accommodates both
hollowpoint centerfire and rimfire rounds.

Never underestimate the importance of a good magazine. See our entire

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Fire for rimfires. The hammer is ser- groups with the open sights and got shoot even with the .357 loads.
rated, making it perfect for all types of the best accuracy with the Hornady The reintroduction of the G2 Con-
weather hand gear. .38 load—not a surprise since firing tender is indeed a pleasant surprise
Handgun barrels are husky. The .38s through a 3.5-pound gun is nice and a boon to single-shot shooters and
12-inch .357 Magnum I tested mea- and easy. The accuracy was accept- hunters. It is good to see this classic,
sured .810 inch along its length and able with the .357 loads, but by the top-quality, made in America gun on
offered .220 inch of metal surrounding time I’d run 20 shots with both the the market again.
the cartridge—a bit of extra insurance Winchester and Remington, fatigue
against a blown case. An ejector at the had set in and definitely affected iron-
breech gently lifts the spent cartridge sight accuracy. But I did find the wood
out of the gun for easy removal. grips and fore-end comfortable to
The rear sight is fully adjustable,
with a target quality rear blade set on a
slight angle to eliminate glare. The front
sight is a blade that’s easily removed if
you’ll be using a scope.
Wood on my sample was first rate,
with the finger-grooved pistol grip
exhibiting a nice amount figure. The
fore-end has a long taper. Both pieces
are finished to a smooth satin finish that The original Contender (top) sported

<
There’s a lot of metal in the G2 an etched puma on the receiver and
<

should endure years of hard use.

Contender barrel, which makes sense had an adjustable trigger. The new G2
Range testing produced no prob- considering the powerful cartridge lacks both, although it’s still a
lems with ignition or extraction. I shot options available for it. well-built gun with great wood.

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 | GUN SENSE | By RICHARD NANCE
LOCATION, LOCATION,
WHERE YOU SHOOT, NOT WHAT CALIBER, IS KEY TO STOPPING AN ATTACK.
DESPITE WHAT YOU’VE SEEN IN THE
movies, when people get shot they
don’t fly backward several feet then
land in a motionless heap. In fact,
when you shoot someone with a
handgun—regardless of caliber—
there’s a good chance you won’t even
know your round hit its mark ini-
tially. That’s why police trainers and
defensive handgun instructors stress
the importance of shooting until the
assailant no longer poses a deadly
threat. While registering multiple
hits on your adversary is likely to put
a quicker end to his deadly behavior
than a single hit, the placement of
your bullets on the target is an even
more critical factor.
For decades, the center of mass
was considered to be the primary
target. As the name implies, center of
mass refers to the center of a person’s
body. The rationale behind targeting
center of mass was not so much that it
was a particularly vital area as that it
was a relatively large target as com-
pared to the head or the extremities.
Aiming at center of mass affords the
shooter a good chance of hitting the
target and minimizes the likelihood
of missing and subsequently endan-
gering bystanders.
As a police firearms instructor, I’ve
shot and scored countless qualifica-
tions using the popular B-27 sil-
houette target. It’s an easy target to
score, with the 10-point X-ring being
surrounded by the clearly delineated
nine, eight and seven rings. Unfortu-
nately, the X-ring is located roughly
at the upper abdomen (near the
center of mass), which is considerably
lower than the preferred target area
for a real-world shooting.
These days, the upper chest is
widely considered the primary target
72 HANDGUNS APRIL/MAY 2016
LOCATION
area because it is a rather large sur-
face (not unlike center of mass) but
more importantly because it houses
vital organs like the heart, lungs
and aorta. A bullet impact or several
impacts to the upper chest is likely
to incapacitate much faster than simi-
lar hits to center of mass. But even
upper-chest shots aren’t likely to re-
sult in immediate incapacitation. For
that, we rely on targeting the head.
The pelvis is a logical target area but
shouldn’t be considered a guaranteed
mobility kill when shot.
It’s no surprise that the head is a
vital target, but it’s also smaller and
more mobile, making it harder to
hit. That’s why the head is more of a
secondary target to be engaged after
the assailant has been debilitated by
shots to the upper chest or when such
shots have seemingly no effect as
may be the case when an assailant is
impervious to pain as a result of drug
influence, intoxication or is wearing
body armor.
The concept of targeting the torso
and then the head is the impetus of
what’s often referred to as a “failure
drill,” which consists of two rounds
delivered to the body followed by a
head shot. But there’s another target
area that is somewhat controversial:
the pelvis or pelvic girdle. Those in
favor of targeting this area typically
claim it will result in a “mobility
kill,” thereby rendering the assail-
ant stationary. But not everyone is
convinced.
Several years ago at a SWAT con-
ference, I attended a presentation on
gunshot wounds. The speaker was a
medical doctor who had treated liter-
ally hundreds of shooting “victims”
(many of those he treated were shot
rightfully by law enforcement person-
nel or citizens who fired in self-
defense). Much of the presentation
focused on shot placement. When the
topic turned to targeting the pelvis,
the good doctor pulled out a human
pelvis from his bag and passed it
around the room.
The pelvis is a ring-shaped, boney
structure located at the base of the
spine. It serves as the attachment
point for your torso and legs. Ad-
ditionally, the pelvis protects vital
muscles, nerves and blood vessels.
According to the doc, a handgun
round was unlikely to create a break
in the pelvis sufficient to render a
person immobile. Multiple rounds,
however, could produce this effect.
The pelvis is a logical target area
but shouldn’t be considered a guaran-
teed mobility kill when shot. It does
present an option, though, particu-
larly in close quarters.
In such a situation, if you were to
raise your gun to chest or head level,
the assailant may get ahold of it. But
if you shoot from a retention position,
with the gun indexed to your chest
and the muzzle oriented slightly
downward, a gun grab is less likely
and rounds fired from the position
will tend to impact the pelvic region.
From there, you could disengage and
target the head or upper chest as ap-
propriate.
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