Washington-based ZEV Technologies and New Hampshire’s Sig Sauer this week lifted the curtain on an exciting mod for the latter’s P365 micro-carry 9mm, the new Octane Z365.
As you would expect, the Z365 is packed with semi-custom offerings from ZEV’s catalog including a PRO Barrel, Combat Sights, and the optics-ready Octane slide.
It’s easy on the eyes, but is it worth it?
More in my column at Guns.com.
For the past several months, one of the handguns I have been testing and evaluating is the Rapide (Black Ice) M1911A1 model from Kimber in 10mm Auto.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful gun– it should be at $1,500 smackers– and it is loaded with standard features that John Browning would have never imagined.
I mean just look at it.
But I did have some issues.
While reliable (I ran over 600 rounds of Sig ammo through it with zero hiccups) Kimber says the gun needs a break-in period of about that much, which I think is a big ask for a pistol that costs this much and is in such a pricy caliber. Also, the super busy G10 grips and finish show a lot more wear after what I consider basic use than a bargain bin polymer-framed striker-fired 9mm that costs 1/5th as much.
Still, it’s pretty, even after some wear and tear.
More in my column at Guns.com.
Just a decade ago, reflex or red dot sights used on handguns were primarily just for competition race guns in unlimited matches. Just a few years ago, it was considered revolutionary that the U.S. Army’s XM17 Modular Handgun System went with a model of the Sig P320 that included an optics-ready slide cut for an RMR, specifically a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro sight, which was a big move for a MIL-STD handgun meant for the common Soldier in the field.
Today, while lots of full-sized pistols from Sig, Glock (MOS series), FN, HK, and others are on the market with slide cuts, there is an increasing number of makers delivering sub-compact models, intended for concealed carry, capable of using a micro red dot.
Springfield Armory just delivered such a thing in their newest Croatian-made XD-S Mod.2 OSP 9mm pistols, with the “OSP” denoting it is optics-ready.
And they will ship it complete with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500 for around $550, which isn’t bad.
More in my column at Guns.com.
Normally, the pistols I test and evaluate for publications come from so-called “top shelf” or at least “mid-shelf” manufacturers such as Glock, S&W, FN, Kimber, et. al.
In a departure from that, I have been kicking around the Taurus G3C, the company’s third-gen polymer-framed striker-fired pistol for the past four months and have run more than 1K rounds through it, often carrying it as a BUG to get a feel for it.
The verdict? The damn thing works. It isn’t pretty. You aren’t going to want to show it off on your social media feed. However, Taurus has gotten their quality control in order and this gun has very little to complain about.
Plus, it is a 12+1 subcompact that is roughly the same size as a Glock 43, but only costs about $300.
For the past two years, I have probably spent more time with my S&W M&P9 M2.0 4-inch Compact (what a mouthful!) than any other pistol I own.
In all, I’ve dropped more than 4K rounds through it with no issues worth noting and, on most days, it is my EDC in addition to whatever gun I am T&E’ing at the time (yes, I believe in the concept of the New York Reload aka “dressing for success”).
My M2.0 chilling, also, forgive the homage to Alex Colville’s The Pacific.
I personally think the M2.0 4-inch Compact is a Glock 19 killer as it does everything the G19 can, only slightly better from the factory. With that being said, I am glad Smith finally figured out that they should market an optic-ready model, able to take a variety of seven different red dots, with an MSRP of around $600~.
More in my column at Guns.com
For the past several weeks I have been wrestling a Taurus, the company’s new G3c model subcompact 9mm to be exact. I wanted to hate it as it wasn’t a Glock 19/26 or S&W M&P M2.0 Compact– my typical every day carry– or at least you could say I didn’t have big hopes for it. Now, I will admit that, after 500 rounds and about 120 hours with it on my side, I am beginning to look at the gun with a fresh sense of curiosity.
So far, I’ve have found the Taurus G3c to be a definite upgrade from the company’s previous polymer-framed pistols, the 1st Generation PT111 Millennium and the 2nd Gen G2 line. Without spending Sig money for a P365 or even Springfield money for a Hellcat, it gets you in the neighborhood of a very compact 12+1 9mm that leaves you some extra scratch to invest in brass.
Which is always a good thing.
More in my column at Guns.com.
Resistance fighters with the French Forces of the Interior armbands meet up with curious recently arrived American troops on the beach in the Saint Tropez area during Operation Dragoon landings along the French Riviera, 15 August 1944. The irregulars of the FFI numbered an estimated 400,000 by this stage of the war and were no longer underground.
Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-212383 via NARA
The Resistance members all seem to have pistols stuck in their waist-band, channeling Dan Tanna long before the 1970s.
Inset of 111-SC-212383
The fella to the left has a Colt M1908 Hammerless stuck in his belt while his buddy with the short (German surplus?) wool jacket has what appears to be an Astra 400 grip just showing. The stabby guy with the bandana has what looks like a 6.35mm pocket pistol such as a Browning Baby or Colt Vest model in addition to his steel-handled sheath knife.
As for the GIs, the older Soldier on the right has the distinctive seahorse patch of the 36th Engineer Regiment.
The 36th Engineers were everywhere in the ETO, earning campaign streamers for Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, and Rome-Arno in the 22 months prior to the Dragoon landings. They would go on to prove essential in the push through Northwest Europe through Alsace and the Rhineland. An active-duty unit, after WWII they went on to serve in Korea, where they remained for 20 years. Reformed as the 36th Engineer Group in 1973 and as the 36th Engineer Group in 2006, they have continued to deploy downrange across the sandbox extensively over the past three decades.
Originally billed as a “vest pocket .45” built for maximum concealment in mind, the 4+1 Semmerling LM-4 pistol was only 5.2-inches long, 3.7-inches high, and a svelte 1-inch wide. For reference, this puts it in the same neighborhood as common .32ACP and .25ACP pocket pistols, but in a much larger caliber. Today it still holds the title as perhaps the smallest .45ACP that isn’t a derringer and, for comparison, it is about the same size as a Ruger LCP.
It is also the only manually-worked slide action .45ACP carry gun I can think of…
And I have been fooling around with serial number #31 lately
More in my column at Guns.com.
Walther, originally located in Zella-Mehlis, Germany, was founded in 1886– back when Kaiser Willy was on the throne. After spending the first quarter-century of their existence crafting highly accurate schuetzen competition rifles, Fritz Walther returned to the company from an apprenticeship at DWM, home of the Luger pistol, and, seeing the industry was rapidly moving to produce then-novel semi-auto pistols, urged the older Walther to move in that direction as well.
This led to a flurry of new patents for small, blowback-action semi-autos handguns with fixed barrels and the steady production of little popguns from the Walther Model 1 in 1908 through the Model 9 in 1940. Thus:
Fast forward to the 1960s and Walther, after losing their Zella-Mehlis factory to the Soviets– who transported it to the East to make Walther PPs, err Makarov PMs– set up a new plant in West Germany. Their first German-made product after the move (as the PP/PPK and P-38 were being cranked out in France) was a throwback to Fritz’s little pocket pistols, or taschen pistole.
The Walther TP:
Only produced for about a decade, the Walther TP was “retro” even when it was introduced in the 1960s.
More in my column at Guns.com.
Over the years, I have had lots of Taurus K-frame revolver clones pass through my hands, and they were decent guns mechanically if not in fit and finish. I even own a Taurus M1911A1 that has proven itself better than some American-made pistolas of the same breed. However, the company hasn’t been able to make a polymer-framed striker-fired gun that excited me, and they have certainly been trying. I’ve shot a few PT-111s and a G2 in the past several years and passed on them all with a shrug. Just not for me.
However, I have been testing one of the company’s new third-gen G3c models, and (puts on flame suit) I may be warming to the idea of carrying one of these.
Weight of the G3c, unloaded, is billed as 22-ounces and we found that the gun, when stuffed with 13 rounds of 147-grain Federal Hydra-Shok JHP bulks up to 27.1-ounces. Height is 5.1-inches over the sights with the standard magazine inserted.