Heckler & Koch has updated their crowd-pleasing VP9 pistol series for 2025 with the new A1 standard, which brings a host of improved ergonomics, a better trigger, and more magazine options.
HK debuted the striker-fired, polymer-framed Volkspistole 9 in 2014 to augment the popular USP series and in the past decade, it has gained an almost cult following. The new VP9A1 series keeps the things people love while upgrading the feel and performance of the platform. The series will include a full-sized (4.53-inch barrel) VP9A1 F and a more compact (4.09-inch) VP9A1 K.
The new features include a fully customizable grip that works through a set of interchangeable backstraps and side panels, improved ambidextrous surface controls, an enhanced trigger with a nickel-Teflon coated trigger bar that HK says provides a smoother pull and cleaner break, a factory flared magwell, and additional front and rear maritime serrations.
June 1, 1986. A crewman aboard the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) prepares to fire a shot line from an M-14 rifle to another ship in preparation for an underway replenishment. PH2 Jeff Elliott. 330-CFD-DN-SC-87-09414
That said, Ryan Szimanski over at the Battleship New Jersey Museum has a great video going over the ship’s circa 1980s small arms allotment, not covering the guns of the embarked MARDET.
Of interest:
40 M14s (likely some paired with Mark 87 line-throwing attachments).
28 1911A1s issued with two mags and 10 total rounds.
14 Mossberg M500 12 gauge riot guns.
10 M60 machine guns.
4 Ruger Security Six .38s, likely for pilots.
4 M-79 40mm bloop guns.
5 22mm Sedgley Mk5 flare guns.
3 37mm AN/M8 Pyrotechnic pistols.
5 22LR S&W Model 46 Match semi-auto pistols.
6 .22LR Colt Ace pistols.
On the 1911s, Ryan was good enough to include the serials they had on file.
Of interest, one (SN 13097 ) is from one of the Navy’s earliest 1,000-gun 1911 contracts (SN range 12501-13500) delivered in 1912. Another (SN 363824) is of Great War vintage. Most of the others are M1911A1 WWII-era guns:
As the CMP has been (will be?) sending out some 100,000 surplus M1911s, including lots of former USN guns, the likelihood is high that some of these may be floating around so check your CMP .45s, guys.
And of those curious about the use behind all the M60s, check out these shots of “The Pig” in use around the fleet from the 1980s, where they seem to be fitted either with tripods and bipods, and used in a variety of improvised mounts.
You have to love that talker helmet! Members of a Navy M60 lightweight machine gun crew stand watch at a deck-edge station aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa (LPH 3), January 14, 1988. PH2 Alex Hicks. 330-CFD-DN-ST-88-03212
Good vibes! Persian Gulf. A boatswain’s mate seaman stands lookout watch next to an M60 machine gun aboard the dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39) October 29, 1987. Note the dungarees and talker set. PH2 (Sw) Jeffrey A. Elliott. 330-CFD-DN-ST-88-01835
A crew member aboard the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) aims an M-60 7.62mm machine gun during small arms qualifications. The Blue Ridge is among the U.S. Navy ships deployed to the region in support of Operation Desert Shield.
A sailor manning an M-60 machine gun aboard the patrol combatant missile hydrofoil USS Taurus (PHM-3) keeps an eye on a small merchant ship that was stopped after it made an abrupt course change, circa November 1, 1989. The Taurus and the other hydrofoils of PHM Squadron 2 patrol the waters around Florida as part of the nation’s drug interdiction program. PH2(Ac) Mark Kettenhoffen. 330-CFD-DN-SC-90-09320
Snub-nosed carry revolvers have arguably been around since 1849 when Colt hit the market with the “Wells Fargo” Pocket model. Now pushing into their 175th year, there is a reason they are still popular: a blend of simplicity, reliability, and concealability.
This year saw Diamondback Firearms introduce their sleeper Self Defense Revolver, a six-shot .357 Magnum all-stainless snubby that takes K-frame speedloaders, fits in J-frame holsters, and accepts common S&W grip panels from the latter as well.
The SDR is a good-looking gun. All the edges are melted, leaving virtually no sharp points and few snag points other than the exposed hammer spur.
We’ve been kicking an SDR around for several months and found it easily supportable, dependable in use and operation, and innovative with an easily removable cylinder assembly. Further, while not meant for long-range benchrest target shooting, it is accurate to fill the needs of your typical EDC snub gun.
And it works, these from the 15-yard mark, standing and unsupported
Did Diamondback knock it out of the park their first time at bat when it came to a centerfire revolver? Looks like it.
On the ramp-up to SHOT Show ’24, Glock’s big announcement for this year leaked out: the terribly named G49.
The so-called Glock 19L, using the compact G19 grip with a full-sized G17-length slide and barrel, has been a thing for years, with folks typically hacking a Glock 17 grip to make it a 15-shot capacity pistol that accepts G19 mags. Others used a standard G19 frame with an aftermarket G17-length slide that was compatible with the shorter frame.
The benefit was that, for many, the G19 is considered easier to conceal with its shorter grip/height than the G17, while the longer barrel and slide give the user a longer sight radius.
The G49 delivers on this concept.
The commercial variant of the G49. Note the “chopped” dust cover leaving an exposed chin on the slide, the standard fixed polymer sights, and the optics plate. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A crossover that blends the size of a Gen 5 G17/G47 top half with the compact grip frame of the Gen 5 G19, it takes standard flush-fit double-stack G19 mags. Note the ambi slide stop/catch and reversible magazine release.
The thing is, the company only intended the G49 to be a limited run, and apparently that run has come to an end, with the G49 now being notably absent from the company’s website.
If you are a collector and don’t have one in the safe, you may want to get on that before the rest of the Glock mafia figure it out and prices jump.
To say that Beretta has been around for a while is a massive understatement. To the point, the company is the oldest firearms maker in business today, logging its first documented contract in 1526, for arquebus barrels bound for the Republic of Venice from the shop of Bartolomeo Beretta. Who else can say they made arquebus barrels in the old Venetian Republic?
Beretta has well-guarded records going back centuries. This is because the company has been a constant in the region, no matter what banner flew over the land.
Not a lot of companies can say they were founded in the Renaissance. Keep in mind it predates the colonies at St. Augustine, Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. Further, while other long-running gun makers such as Remington and Smith & Wesson have changed ownership dozens of times over the past couple of centuries, Beretta remains a family business, now in its 15th generation – with the 16th lined up.
Beretta’s campus is located along the Garda Mountains in the foothills of the Alps, with portions of the facility inside the rock itself. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Ruger and Magpul have teamed up to produce a new 9mm handgun complete with a modular stainless-steel chassis system, which could be a universal adapter.
Dubbed the RXM, the new pistol is striker-fired and familiar, having the same general dimensions as many popular carry guns of the past few decades.
Compared to popular carry guns such as the Glock 19, S&W M&P9 Compact M2.0, and CZ P09 Nocturne, the Ruger RXM seems very familiar.
Diving deeper, it has a serialized Fire Control Insert that is independent of its grip frame, which gives it the flexibility to be easily swapped into different grips – which are developed and produced by Magpul. Optics-ready with a Tritium front sight, it runs popular 15-round G19-pattern mags.
Can you say, “chassis system?”
American-made, the RXM has an MSRP of $499. For that, you get a G19 Gen 3 feeling pistol, made in the U.S. (not in Brazil or Turkey), with probably the most popular double-stack 9mm magazine pattern, complete with steel night sights and an optics cut. Plus, the removable chassis system, backed up with grip modules from Magpul, gives it some serious modularity.
Ruger has long had problems bringing a 9mm pistol to market that people really, really liked. RXM could see that change.
Official period caption. “8 December 1962. Capt. Richard A. Jones with Vietnamese Eagle Force troops he advises.”
Photo by Richard Tregaskis. From the Richard Tregaskis Collection (COLL/566) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division.
Note Capt. Jones’ weapon of choice, the humble Kulsprutepistol m/45, AKA the Carl Gustaf M/45, AKA the Swedish K.
A handy little 9mm sub gun designed by Gunnar Johansson for Swedish forces in WWII as the country’s answer to the STEN and MP40, the Swedes made something like 300,000 of them during the Cold War for issue not only to the military but also for security and police forces– with the latter even having a select-fire version to accommodate launching tear gas grenades.
The Swedish K M/45 used the same bayonet as the country’s Mausers
Swedish UN soldier during the Congo Crisis, 1961. Photo by Åke Sandberg. Note the K gun and FN MAG at the ready.
Swedish Terrängbil m42 KP in UN service during the Congo Crisis 1960s. Note the Swedish trooper with a Carl Gustav K gun M45 and a local gendarme with a Belgian Vigneron submachine gun
Soldier training at MACVSOG Recondo School Vietnam with a Swedish K SMG sporting ERDL “Leaf” camo
Special Forces legend Capt. Larry Thorne (Lauri Törni), who died in 1965 when his CH-34 went down with a recon detachment near the Ho Chi Mein Trail when his body was recovered by a joint Finnish-American team in 1999, was able to help confirm his remains from the fact that his K gun was found at the wreck site.
Only removed from Stockholm’s inventory in 2007, it was produced legally in Egypt by Maadi in the 1960s, and in unlicensed garage-built variants in South America and the Middle East, where it is just commonly known as the Port Said…and are still seeing use in combat.
For the neat 30-year span between 1988, when the Glock 19 was introduced, and 2018 when the SIG P365 appeared, the 7.36-inch long, 4-inch barreled, 15+1 shot, 24-ounce unloaded G19 was the magic box of dimensions that every pistol maker chased.
Today, we have the new Springfield Armory Echelon 4.0C, which is 7.25 inches long with a 4-inch barrel, uses 15+1/18+1 magazines, and is 24 ounces, unloaded.
Unlike Glock, the Echelon has a chassis system that can be swapped around multiple grip modules of varying size and color and has a far better and more adaptable optics mounting system than Glock’s MOS plates.
Plus, it’s reliable, has ambi controls, a decent trigger, and much better sights.
The Echelon 4.0C could offer a good multi-purpose pistol for either home defense, especially with a good weapon-mounted light, or carry.
I recently covered Walther’s reintroduction of the PP and PPK in its original .32 ACP caliber and was, candidly, impressed as it actually worked, something that a lot of other Walther pocket pistols haven’t done over the years.
Showing they can both look good and shoot good as well, Walther has introduced the Exquisite variant of the PPK/s which combines fancy-grade Turkish walnut grips with a brushed stainless finish, high-coverage scroll engraving, and 24KT gold appointments including inlays, hammer, trigger, magazine release, and grip screw.
All have special serial numbers prefixed with “JB” because of course they do.
Limited to a 1,000-gun run, the PPK/s Exquisite has an MSRP of $1,849.
Kimber originally started as a rifle brand and pivoted to making M1911-style pistols in 1994, debuting at SHOT ’95. Basic math shows that to be at least a 30-year run in the field. Along the way, they learned a thing or two.
With a new state-of-the-art facility in Troy, Alabama at their fingertips, and a couple of generations of hard-earned tribal knowledge in how to make a 1911, the company is now ready to run in the double-stack/wide-body 1911 game – after a warm-up with the slightly downsized KDS9c – and this week introduced the new 2K11.
Using an aluminum alloy grip module over an SST steel sub-frame, the slide is made of stainless steel, featuring an external extractor, front and rear slide serrations, and a factory optics cut in the RMR footprint. Running TAG Precision FiberLok 2 front sights with a suppressor-height serrated rear sight, under the hood is a beast of a deep crowned, fluted bull barrel.
You’ve also got a great GT aluminum trigger, ambi safety levers, an innovative tool-less guide rod/spring assembly, and common (2011 pattern) magazine compatibility.
I went to Kimber’s facility in Alabama over the summer to try out some early production guns and they ran, and ran, and ran.
My target at the sneak peek event this summer. That’s about 400 rounds just dumped methodically from 15 yards, standing, firing offhand, alternating left and right, often in rapid-fire mag dumps. I promise that Delta isn’t mine.
I’ve also been working on a test gun for evaluation for the past two months and it has done much the same.
My T&E gun, even with fixed sights, continued the trend, delivering boring hits on 3/4 reduced USPSA steel at 15 offhand. Full-sized targets were no problem at 25. Pushing to the 50 and working from a sitting barricade and bag position while applying some concentration in slow fire brought the above. Adding a red dot on this gun is something of a cheat code.
