KelTec came to Enforce Tac in Nuremberg, Germany, this week with a new 5.7 NATO platform that uses twin “jungle clipped” downward ejecting 50-round mags.
The company debuted the P50 pistol in 2021, which uses flat 5.7mm FN P90 pattern magazines in a top-loading format via a hinged receiver. Offered first in a pistol, then in a P50 carbine kit with a 16-inch barrel and a foldable stock, it performed well in our tests.
Updating the concept, KelTec has flipped the loading to a faster and drop-free format and ditched the pistol-style trigger on the P50 for a more AR-ish SU16 trigger group on the new KP50. Other features on the gun include a B5 Systems AR-pattern grip, a rear accessory mount, a top Pic rail, a rear non-reciprocating charging handle, and an optional “jungle mag” setup with dual 50-round magazines, allowing rapid switch-out following a drop and 180-degree rotation.
The KP50, seen in its SBR variant. (Photos: KelTec)
KelTec will be offering the KP50 in four flavors: an $899 MSRP’d pistol, a $1,099 pistol with a side-folding pistol stabilizing brace, a $1,349 Defender braced pistol with a Vortex Crossfire green dot optic and Magpul MBUS backup sights, and a $1,099 factory SBR that transfers on a $0 ATF Form 4.
There is also the price-available MP50, a select-fire variant (come on Hughes Amendment repeal) with a cyclic rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute until the mag holds out.
The $899 pistol variant of the KP50. It is lightweight at 3.2 pounds loaded (4.3 with 50 rounds of 5.7x28mm loaded) while being 18.27 inches long overall with its 9.6-inch barrel.
The $1,099 braced KP50 pistol ups the unloaded weight to 4 pounds, and with the brace unfolded, extends the overall length to 28.3 inches. KelTec will also offer this gun in a Defender package with a Vortex Crossfire green dot optic and Magpul MBUS backup sights for $250 more. Note the 50+50 “jungle mag”
The more tricked-out folding-stocked MP50 SBR machine gun, which is pitched to Mil/LE sales due to its giggle switch. Contact your Congressman, Senator, and President on scrapping the Hughes Amendment if you disagree with that post-86 restriction.
The concept of the KP50/MP50 isn’t entirely new. The autists at Pennsylvania-based Stuff and Things have been marketing its $239 bottom-feeding ST50 FCG kit for the P50 for about a year, which uses AR trigger groups and allows users to swap P-90 pattern 5.7 mags via an AK/EVO 3-style mag release.
The ST50 FCG kit
Still, kudos to KelTec for keeping folks guessing. The MP50, in particular, sounds invigorating.
The Shadow line, originally based on the CZ 75 SP-01, has been a top choice in competitive shooting since winning the 2005 IPSC World Shoot. The well-reviewed Shadow 2, launched in 2016 with improved features and an optics-ready option in 2020, is now widely used by leading IPSC competitors, including Eric Grauffel.
In response to demand for a lighter model, CZ released the Shadow 2 Compact in 2023, featuring a 7075-aluminum frame, 4-inch barrel, and 15+1 magazine capacity on a gun that was about a pound lighter. Both versions offer textured grips and smooth trigger action.
Testing both models, the full-sized Shadow 2 and Shadow 2 Compact side by side in Czechia at CZ’s range in 2024, revealed impressive performance that differed little between big brother and the new kid on the block. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
As the Shadow 2 Compact is based on a DA/SA competition gun, there’s no firing pin block plunger system, which can be a pucker factor for some, being drop-safe if carried with a round in the chamber. That led to the Shadow 2 Carry, which retains everything folks loved about the S2 Compact but deletes the manual safety lever in favor of a simple de-cocking lever, while adding a safety notch on the hammer and an automatic firing pin block.
Additionally, it features a direct mount with a K-series footprint, while retaining excellent sights, unlike the universal plate-based optics pad on the Compact, which requires removing the rear sights. The magazine release has also been made shorter, more akin to that on the P01– something we complained to CZ about directly back in 2024 on the Shadow Carry, so you are welcome.
Boom. The CZ Shadow 2 Carry as made in Europe for the U.S. market. As you can tell from our installation of a Holosun 507K, it is optics-ready (but doesn’t ship with one).
The new CZ Shadow 2 Carry has a 4-inch barrel, giving it an overall length of 7.5 inches. All the dimensions are a 1:1 comparison with the Shadow 2 Compact, which means you can swap barrels, many internals (not controls), and holsters.
The width over the ambi decocker is 1.5 inches, while the height is 5.4 inches.
As you can see, when compared to this early 1980s CZ75 “Pre-B,” it carries forth the same lineage that has been the benchmark for the company’s 9mm family of semi-auto pistols for over 50 years.
Including the low bore axis and gliding internal slide rails.
And the overall grip angles and feel. People love the classics, man.
Quick summary: CZ responded to those who wanted a safe-to-carry Shadow 2 Compact with the same race gun lineage known and loved for generations, and the resulting Shadow 2 Carry delivers on that promise, blending style, performance, and dependability in one platform.
Canada built its own, more Maple Leaf, version of theBrowning Hi-Powerin Toronto during World War II and may torch the survivors, as Ukraine apparently doesn’t want the vintage pistols.
The classic 9mm pistols were manufactured during the War in Ontario by John Inglis & Company, with a little help from Dieudonne Saive, the Belgian firearms engineer who helped design the gun in the first place.
Canadian-made No. 2 Mk1* Inglis Hi-Powers, produced between 1944 and 1945, are distinctive period BHP clones with the “thumbprint” slide, high rear sight, and internal extractor, features that FN discontinued by the early 1950s. (Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera)
These Browning-Inglis No. 2 Mk1* pistols remained in service until 2023, when they were replaced by the new C22, a variant of the SIG P320 ordered the previous year.
The Canadian Browning-Inglis production was aided during WWII by FN’s exiled staff, with the BHP’s co-designer, Dieudonné Saive, helping with the technical package, making these unofficial clones. Ultimately, an agreement was reached to pay FN a royalty of 25 cents after the war for each gun produced. (Photo: Guns.com)
With 11,000 surplus Inglis-made guns on hand in 2024, the Canadian government did what the Canadian government typically does and, saving 500 for museum pieces, moved to recycle (um, scrap) the rest. Then came the idea to instead offer them as military aid to Ukraine. I
t was a win-win for the Trudeau government, both saving the cash that would have been spent to destroy the guns and earning some kudos on the international stage by helping the embattled Ukrainians.
The thing is, flush with more than $61 billion in much more modern munitions given to Kyiv by the Biden Administration, and with major European arms makers setting up local production in Ukraine proper, those 10,500 very well-used Hi-Powers just didn’t seem that attractive, and the deal never happened.
So, as recently reported by the Ottawa Citizen, the Canadian government has returned to the original plan and has scrapped 2,000 of the highly collectible war veteran handguns and is once again asking Ukraine if they want the 8,500 or so guns still on hand.
If not, well, you know how this song goes.
Cue the Indiana Jones, “It belongs in a museum,” memes.
The Danish military has literally doubled down on an order of new 5.56 NATO chambered Colt Modular Rail Rifles in an effort to rebuild its army.
The Danish Ministry of Defense Materiel and Procurement Board (Forsvarsministeriets Materiel- og Indkøbsstyrelse, FMI) last week made a two-point announcement.
First, it had received the first shipments of new Colt Canada C8 MRR Carbines, type qualified as the Gevaer M/25 in Danish service. These guns, ordered last August, were to be in two variants separated by colorways, with half being all-black and the other half being a sort of coyote brown/dark FDE, with the full order delivered by the end of 2026. The Elcan Specter is the day/night optic of record.
The first of 26,000 ordered Colt C8s arrived in Denmark this month. (Photos: Danish FMI)
The Colt Canada C8 MRR uses a monolithic upper receiver with a lot of slots for M-LOK accessory rails, and it looks like the 15.7-inch model was delivered. These will use Elcan Specter 4x optics. (Photo: Danish FMI)
They use free-floating, cold-hammer-forged chrome-lined barrels in lengths of 11.6, 14.5, 15.7, or 18.6 inches. The C8 MRR is also offered in .300 BLK and 7.62 NATO, although the Danes are just using the 5.56 variants. (Photo: Colt Canada).
Udleveringen af omkring 50.000 nye M/25 C8 MRR geværer til Forsvaret og Hjemmeværnet er gået i gang. Hærhjemmeværnets SSR-soldater er de første der får leveret GV M/25 fra Colt Canada med SpecterDR-sigter fra ELCAN.
Udleveringen af omkring 50.000 nye M/25 C8 MRR geværer til Forsvaret og Hjemmeværnet er gået i gang. Hærhjemmeværnets SSR-soldater er de første der får leveret GV M/25 fra Colt Canada med SpecterDR-sigter fra ELCAN.
Udleveringen af omkring 50.000 nye M/25 C8 MRR geværer til Forsvaret og Hjemmeværnet er gået i gang. Hærhjemmeværnets SSR-soldater er de første der får leveret GV M/25 fra Colt Canada med SpecterDR-sigter fra ELCAN.
Udleveringen af omkring 50.000 nye M/25 C8 MRR geværer til Forsvaret og Hjemmeværnet er gået i gang. Hærhjemmeværnets SSR-soldater er de første der får leveret GV M/25 fra Colt Canada med SpecterDR-sigter fra ELCAN.
The second part is that they want to double the order.
“As part of this contract, there was an option to purchase an additional number of rifles, and this option has now been used by the IMF,” said the agency in a statement. “This means that through 2026 and 2027 in total, over 50,000 new rifles will be delivered to the Armed Forces (Forsvaret) and Home Guards (Hjemmeaernet).”
The new guns will replace the old M/95 and M/96 series carbines, which are Canadian-made Diemaco C8 and C7s, which are effectively clones of the Colt M4 and M16A2, respectively, and were delivered in the late 1990s. The country also fields the M/10, which is more equivalent to the M4A1, and was also made by Colt Canada. All three series of rifles were used by Danish forces in Afghanistan, a country to which they deployed a total of 18,000 troops from 2002 to 2021.
Denmark, a NATO ally, is not only trying to beef up its military forces in Europe with the ongoing tensions with Russia, but is also expanding its defensive capabilities in Greenland. This year, the country stationed the first combat units on the somewhat disputed Arctic island – detachments of the Jutland Dragoons and the newly formed Jaeger Corps Arctic Specialists (Jaegerkorpset Arktiske-Specialister) – at Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq, as part of the ongoing Operation Arctic Endurance.
Previously, only a small surveillance unit armed with bolt-action M1917 .30-06 rifles and 10mm Glock pistols was stationed in Greenland full-time.
Perhaps the new guns will be ordered in a white and green colorway.
The new guns getting some use this week at Flyvestation Karup:
With unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, a hot topic both in consumer use and on the battlefield, it should come as no surprise that they were increasingly on hand at the recent SHOT Show.
Both Colt and SIG had (well) armed drones overhead while other companies offered kinetic counter-drone options.
Colt
The Colt-CZ Group is the current owner of the Mk47 Striker, a belt-fed 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher, or AGL, which had been developed by General Dynamics-Armament and Technical Products back in the early 2000s. They made sure to bring it to SHOT Show in a couple of formats.
The Mk47 itself is pretty cool, weighing just 40 pounds without its mount and shield, and has been in limited service with USSOCOM, the Australians, and the Israelis. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Colt not only had the Mk47 displayed on a ground mount but also held aloft, mounted to a Survice Engineering TR150e quad copter.
Now that’s something you don’t expect to see at Colt…
Of note, according to Naval Air Systems Command, the battery-powered TR 150 has been used by the Marines in a logistics role for the past couple of years, able to carry a cargo payload up to 120 pounds to a combat radius of 5.5 miles at a cruise speed of 50 knots autonomously.
As the 40x53mm High Velocity grenade used by the Mk47 weighs about a pound, that would allow a TR 150 to carry the launcher and probably about 40-50 rounds when you add the weight of the mount, belt, and ammo box to the equation. Now, when you think that you could run a whole squadron of these drones from a hut in the jungle with a generator and a satellite link, you get the idea.
SIG
New Hampshire-based SIG has been in the drone space for a bit, having acquired an experienced remote weapons company in 2023 and showing off a small Lumenier UAV carrying a P365 pistol in the past. SIG came to SHOT this year with a host of new guns, but also had an IAI Fire Storm 250 quadcopter suspended over their booth.
What makes the FS 250 so groovy is the fact that it is designed to carry a belly-mounted SIG M250 light machine gun with about 200 rounds or so of 6.8×51 or 7.62 NATO.
SIG tells us they have been testing the FS 250 concept, which takes an APUS-60 UAV and marries it to a remote-control SIG LMG for the past year or so, and it works. ce caption here
B&T Hard Kill
We always make sure to check out B&T at SHOT because they are awesome, and one of the more interesting things we came across at their booth was the Hard Kill system, developed in tandem with Blue Aether as a U.S. Air Force project.
The small-form Hard Kill is designed to use AI to actively track drones and shoot them down, akin to a sort of mini-Phalanx CIWS or Centurion C-RAM. When I say “mini,” think of the size of a suitcase roller bag.
Freedom Munitions (Anti) Drone Round
Drone Round, just as it sounds, is ammo for swatting down drones. Shotguns are typically most effective on drones, but that requires carrying a shotgun (Benelli even sells specific counter-UAS models) wherever you may encounter hostile drones. Shotguns tend to kick, have limited capacities, and don’t reach as far as an AR or other battle rifle, so Freedom Munitions came up with a solution.
Drone Round works with any rifle and suppressor without modification. Tests show no extra wear compared to standard rounds. The ammunition gives about a 30-inch spread at 100 meters and comes in K and L variants for different ranges.
You can bet that drones and how they fit into the firearms industry and the right to keep and bear arms are something that is only going to gain more traction. Think of it like how folks talked about suppressors in 2010.
With a story that runs nearly the entire length of the 20th Century, the iconic top-break British Webley in .455 Caliber Eley is a beast.
My personal interest in the Webley, specifically the bonkers-large Mark VI, which entered service with a 6-inch barrel standard, dates to watching old war movies and TV shows as a kid in the 1970s and 80s, and there were plenty to choose from.
According to IMFDB, they appeared in the hands of Gary Cooper, Peter Lorre, Peter O’ Toole (several times, including “Lawrence of Arabia”), Clark Gable, Richard Burton, Gregory Peck, Bob Hoskins (anachronistically in “Zulu Dawn” of all things!), Burt Lancaster, James Keach, Edward Woodward, Michael Crawford, Christopher Lee, and so on.
It was just a commanding piece.
I mean, look at it:
The Mark VI Webley .455 (All photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Mark VI runs almost a foot long, taping out at 11.25 inches. It weighs 2.5 pounds, unloaded.
Plus, the beautiful rimmed .455 rounds are short and almost comically fat. Stout like a British bulldog. A sumo wrestler compared to the more puny contemporaries such as the 8mm French used in that country’s M1892 revolver, the Russian 7.65×38 used in the Tsarist-era Nagant, and the rimmed 9mm round used by the Japanese Type 26 revolver (the latter of which only generated a velocity of about 500 fps!).
The .455 Webley (right), in this case a 262-grain lead round-nosed Mk.II bullet, compared to a 230-grain .45 ACP FMJ, a bullet familiar to readers this side of the pond. The .455 was introduced in 1891, whereas Browning’s .45 ACP dated to about two decades later.
When loaded with .455, the unmodified Webley Mark VI has a decent cylinder lock-up with minimal gap.
I recall reading a book on guerrilla warfare weapons, published in 1990, that noted the Webley was still often encountered in the hands of insurgents as flotsam from the old British colonial empire and was “a prestigious man stopper.”
Only it wasn’t really.
Sure, any time you get hit by a 218-265 grain bullet, it is going to smart, but, seeing as the projectile typically only traveled at about 600 to 750 fps, the energy imparted on impact was only in the 220-300 ft./lb. range, which is about on average to what you get out of .38 Special (and that’s not even +P loads, either). This was compounded by at least five different generations of service bullets and loads for the .455, all attempting to make it more effective, though they never came close to modern self-defense designs.
But, when used at bad-breath range against the Kaiser’s skinny Landsers on the Western Front in 1915, or poorly clad indigenous warriors and bandits in far-off lands who are probably already fighting parasites and poor diets, it likely worked just fine.
Still, the large 2.5-pound square-butt revolver could prove a useful club when needed.
Fairburn and Sykes, who knew a thing or ten about the Webley in service, had the following passage in their 1942 “Shooting to Live” Commando primer in the chapter on “Stopping Power.”
We shall choose for our first instance one relating to the big lead bullet driven at a moderate velocity. On this occasion, a Sikh constable fired six shots with his .455 Webley at an armed criminal of whom he was in pursuit, registering five hits. The criminal continued to run, and so did the Sikh, the latter clinching the matter finally by battering in the back of the criminal’s head with the butt of his revolver. Subsequent investigations showed that one bullet only, and that barely deformed, remained in the body, the other four having passed clean through.
“Stopping Power!” as debated in 1942.
A closer look at the gun
The Webley top-break revolver itself dates to the company’s original Mark I service revolver, which was adopted by the British military in 1887, starting around £3 each, and a host of generational changes until the wheel gun seen in this piece, the Mark VI, arrived on the scene in May 1915.
A top-break six-shooter, it replaced the shorter Mark V, which had a rounded bird’s head style grip, with a much larger gun using a squared butt, 6-inch barrel, and a somewhat adjustable front sight. Best yet for His Majesty’s bean counters, the wartime finish Mark VI only cost some 51 shillings per gun, or about £2.5.
More gun for less money has always been popular.
The Webley Mark VI was the end-result of nearly 30-years of Webley top-break revolvers and shared much DNA with its predecessors.
It is akin in size to the big 5.5-inch barreled S&W DA 45, which was adopted as the M1917 by the U.S. military about the same time the Webley Mark VI entered service. The DA 45 was one of Smith’s first N-frames.
The double-action/single-action Webley Mark VI has a stout double-action trigger pull (we couldn’t gauge it; it kept maxing out), cutting to a truly short and crisp 8-pound single-action pull that is all-wall.
The hammer is very old-school. No transfer bar safety here.
The large lever, under the hammer and over the rear sight, frees up the top strap of the revolver.
The star extractor positively ejects all spent brass and live rounds when the action is opened.
Approximately 280,000 Mark VI Service models were produced during the war, starting around serial number 135,000. Our example, featured in this article, is serial number 245,288, bearing a 1917 Webley roll mark on the frame, along with corresponding Birmingham proof marks and British military broad arrow and GR acceptance marks. These weapons were not only issued to officers and sergeants but also to artillery, machine gun, and tank crews. They saw further hard use in trench raids and tunnel warfare under said trenches.
Better-grade models of the same gun, based on the old W&S Target, but with a higher fit and finish, were available for personal purchase through the Army & Navy Co-operative store. Many gentlemen officers chose to acquire their Webley in such a fashion, while others simply went with the issued revolver. Aftermarket accessories included the early Prideaux and Watson pattern speed loaders, and the Greener-produced Pritchett bayonet, although none were made in quantity.
The large lanyard ring on the bottom of the butt came in handy not only in the trenches but in mounted service. You didn’t want your Webley to bounce out of the holster while on the trot.
Second Lieutenant JRR Tolkien, the future author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” shipped off for France a year after graduating from Oxford. As a young officer with the 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, in June 1916, he saw service at the grueling military charnel house that was the Battle of the Somme, where some 57,000 casualties were suffered in the first day alone– making it the bloodiest day in British military history. Both at the Somme and a later trench raid near Thiepval, Tolkien had with him an early first-year Mark VI Service, serial number 169,710. It is now in the Imperial War Museum, complete with its lanyard.
The Mark VI also saw service in the sky and on the sea.
A British Royal Flying Corps field armory in France, circa 1918. Note the assorted Webley Mark VIs for use by pilots and observers who were frequently left walking back across No Man’s Land after their flying machines were shot down or broke down.
The Webley also saw service afloat with the Royal Navy for use in boarding parties and landing parties ashore. (Photos: Imperial War Museum)
As the RN saw extensive service against pirates, smugglers, revolutionaries, and bandits in the 1920s and 30s, you can bet the old Webley was there on the sharp end of things. Some think that the coup de grace delivered to Rasputin in December 1916 came from Oswald Rayner, a British MI6 agent in Petrograd, who used a Webley, possibly obtained from the small arms locker of a British submarine working with the Russian fleet in the Baltic.
The Webley Mark VI was officially augmented and then replaced in service with the remarkably similar but .38 caliber Enfield No. 2 in 1932 (left). Before that, the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock built around 30,000 Webley Mark VI pattern revolvers between 1921 and 1926.
While officially replaced, the big .455 Webley remained in secondary service and was even preferred by many as their go-to sidearm.
By the 1930s, the leather Sam Browne style holsters had been replaced by simpler canvas holsters, typically worn butt-forward.
The old Webley saw extensive service in World War II, as well as in Korea, and anecdotally with Australian troops in Vietnam, and Rhodesian and South African troops in the Bush Wars of the 1970s.
Further, the Webley was seen with “Dad’s Army” in the Home Guard, an initially almost unarmed force that peaked at some 1.7 million volunteers ready to take on Mr. Hitler should he send his legions across the Channel. As the Home Guard often used long-retired Great War-era officers in senior positions, they brought their personally owned Army & Navy store pedigree Mark VIs back to service with them. In early units, they were often the only firearms available, save for some fowling pieces.
Ultimately, the Browning Hi-Power L9A1 would replace all top-break revolvers in British service starting in 1954.
An Irish tale
The Webley Mark VI entered Irish service in several ways, both via IRA-looted police, British Army, and auxiliary barracks during the 1919 to 1921 Irish War of Independence, and as guns handed over to the new Provisional pro-treaty government in 1922 and subsequently used against the anti-treaty IRA during the follow-on Irish Civil War. The Oglaigh na hÉireann (IRA) circulated printed training memos on the Mark VIas early as November 1921.
The new Irish Free State government received at least 7,000 Webley Mark VIs in 1922, which were used extensively to fight the IRA, who were often armed with Mark VIs themselves.
Our specimen has had its serial number on its barrel assembly and frame aggressively crossed out and replaced with a simple “N.125,” which, per Webley experts Chamberlain and Taylerson, is common for Webleys taken up by Irish forces in the 1920s.
A circa 1917 Mark VI was recovered from the late General Michael Collins after he was killed in an anti-Treaty ambush in West Cork in 1922. The same year, another circa 1917 Mark VI was used in the assassination of anti-Irish British Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson in London.
Second-hand Shaved Webleys
With the adoption of the Browning Hi-Power in British —and later Commonwealth —service in the 1950s, the final stocks of Webley Mark VIs began to move into the commercial market.
Surplus Irish guns met a similar fate when Sam Cummings of Alexandria, Virginia-based Interarmco (Interarms) made a sweet deal with the Dublin government in 1959 for almost all of the old Republic’s unneeded hardware at scrap-per-ton cash-and-carry prices including a couple hundred Model 1921 Thompsons, 801 Lewis guns, 9 water-cooled Vickers machine guns, 17 Mark I and Mark II 18-pounder field guns, 22 4.5-inch howitzers, four 3-inch anti-artillery guns, 51 Browning aircraft machine guns, pallets of Enfield .303 rifles, and crates of Webley revolvers.
The Webleys were soon sold off through mail order outlets, Hunters’ Lodge, Potomac Arms, and others, for the bargain basement price of $14.50 in NRA Good condition and $19.95 in NRA Very Good Condition with .455 milsurp rounds at a pricy $1.50 per 24 (two, 12-round paper packets). Adjusted for inflation, that’s $165-$225 per revolver, and $17 for 24 rounds of ammo.
Eventually, the stock of Webleys outlasted the stock of surplus .455 and British ammo makers such as Kynoch and Eley trimmed back on production of new cartridges, further driving up the price of the increasingly hard-to-find rounds. To sate the demand, distributors by the 1960s hit on the concept of shaving the rear of the Webley’s six-shot cylinder to allow the rimless .45 ACP round to work* in a pinch, if used in company with half-moon clips as used with the old M1917 DA .45 revolvers. The .45 Auto Rim, made for use with the M1917 sans clips, would work as well.
The .45 ACP shaved cylinder job needed half-moon three-round clips to work. A “full-moon” six-shot clip will sometimes work, depending on the clip.
Comparing a shaved Webley cylinder (left) and an intact .455 cylinder (right) with the old GR acceptance marks and proofs giving the latter away.
Note the difference in cylinder length, with the intact cylinder on top having more “beef” around the serial number, while the shaved .45 ACP cylinder on the bottom has less room around its serial.
The lever that secures the cylinder to the barrel assembly uses a coin-slotted screw designed to use the rim of a .303 cartridge or a “bob” (British shilling/5-pence coin). We found a 1976 Bicentennial quarter to work fine.
*A word of strong warning should be imparted when talking about using .45 ACP in a .455 Webley. It is inadvisable to run full-power commercial .45 ACP in any top-break revolver, including one of those beefy, seemingly indestructible Webley Mark VIs. Special low-power loads (under 13,200 psi vs the standard pressure of 21,000 psi seen in regular loads) are now on the market, made by Steinel specifically for use in shaved cylinder Mark VIs.
Speaking of ammo, Bannerman (Graf), Fiocchi, and Steinel all make new runs of .455 Eley/Webley loads as well, running about $60-$70 for a box of 50. Other than that, running this old revolver is more in the realm of handloaders who dig heavy bullets over small loads, but it is better than just having a “wall hanger.”
No matter what the backstory on this gun, it remains a “Cool Revolver.”
Beretta has been quietly bringing one of the coolest .22LR semi-auto pistols to the market for the past couple of years, and we can finally talk about it.
But first, a little background.
The Jaguar name goes back to 1958 when Beretta introduced a series of gently larger rimfire semi-automatic pistols to complement its pocket .22s like the Model 418 Panther and tip-up barrel Minx. Like today’s Jaguar, the Beretta that carried the name last century was primarily intended for use as a plinker and target pistol, although it went on to be used by covert kinda folks in covert kinda operations.
The original Beretta Jaguar series 70 pistols were introduced in 1958 and remained in production into the 1980s. They are old school cool, for sure. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Meet the new Jaguar B22
We first saw the pre-production Jaguar B22 at a Beretta range event in 2025, but were sworn to secrecy on it. Like the original, it was cool and sleek. However, where the old 71 was art deco and classic, the new Jag was a rimfire muscle car, dripping with factory standard go-fast accessories from Tandemkross and built to go fast and perform while doing it.
The pre-production Jag, spotted in January 2025. Almost ready to be let out of its cage and shown to the public.
Fast forward to SHOT ’26 last month and the Jag was back at Beretta’s range event– but this time soft-launched and ready to purr.
The new platform, designed for plinking, target shooting, and training the next generation, will be offered in a Tac Metal (MSRP $749) and a Metal Competition (MSRP $969) model, with sub-variants in standard (15-round magazines) and state-compliant (10-round) versions of each, at the same price.
Both are built atop an innovative new modular chassis system and an M_LOK barrel shroud with a detachable accessory rail, making the B22 easy to disassemble, clean, and customize. Featuring dual-side ejection with a fixed barrel, it is designed to be reliable and accurate. They are internal hammer-fired (SAO) and blowback action.
The Jaguar B22 Tac Metal runs a 5.25-inch barrel and is 8.85 inches overall. Weight is 33.6 ounces. Equipped with adjustable fiber-optic sights, an extended barrel, and a 1913 Picatinny rail, it is suppressor and optics-ready, as you can tell.
The Jaguar B22 Metal Competition has a 5.5-inch barrel, giving it an overall length of 9.8 inches and a weight of 36.4 ounces. It comes standard with all the features of the Tac Metal but also adds A Tandemkross fiber front fiber optic, Tandemkross Steam Demon single port compensator, Tandemkross Accelorator thumb ledge gas pedal, and an adjustable Tandemkross semi-flat faced trigger with pre- and post-travel adjustments. It looks fast just sitting on the table.
Beretta says the Jaguar B22 Metal Competition is the first .22LR pistol explicitly developed in partnership with the largest educational shooting program in the world for youth, the Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP), in a process that has taken four years.
More direct from Tandemkross and SASP on the background of the new generation of Jaguar:
We hope to have a review of these in the coming weeks.
With a backstory that sounds more avant-garde art show than iron and steel, the Eagle model of the Elysien pistol has flown across the Atlantic.
At the 2024 IWA Outdoor Classics show in Germany, the Guns.com crew sat down with inventor and gunmaker Jan Lysak, who spent almost a decade of blood, sweat, and tears crafting something a bit different. Lysak’s company, Brno-based Creapeiron, introduced its first product at IWA: the Elysien pistol.
While sitting down and drinking plum brandy with Lysak, he spoke about his gun in a way that seemed a cross between Werner Herzog and the Riddler (Gorshin, not Dano).
Lysak only had seven €10,000 ($10,850) chrome DLC Elysien Genesis “Ment for Gods” (not a misprint) models – all named after gods from Ancient Greek mythology – and 99 €5,000 plainer black DLC Elysien Soul models on the schedule, with only vague notions about sending guns to America– one day.
What made it across to the States, brought in by the Arizona-based CZ Custom Shop, is the new Eagle model of the Elysien, which looks more like the chrome DLC Ment for Gods model but with a serial number 1 to 50, as in one for each state.
Engineered for balance and control, the Elysien features a sleek, sculpted profile that reflects both elegance and authority. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
How about that bore axis? The Elysien uses a hammer-forged heavy barrel with a triangular profile inside a ported slide that allows a faster lockup.
Every contour is purpose-driven, delivering a natural grip, smooth handling, and confident ergonomics.
The Creapeiron Elysien Eagle Pistol is serial numbered 1 of 50.
Price? $11,999– and that is only until they sell out, which is likely as, first announced on Monday during SHOT Show, something like half were spoken for by Thursday.
Our SHOT Show 2026 visit with Zastava Arms includes the possible import of the legendary M84 PKM, surplus Yugoslav police pistols, and more.
Zastava M84 PKM
Introduced in 1984, the gun was heavily used in both the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s and globally. Zastava plans to import a semi-auto sporter version to the U.S. with ATF approval pending, while still maintaining its original aesthetics.
Known as “Ceca” after the famous (infamous?) Serbian singer, due to its distinctive sound, the M85 features a heavier, easily replaceable barrel than the Russian PKM. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Some 46 inches long, it weighs 19 pounds, and is chambered in 7.62x54R. Goofy GDC guy not included.
Some 400 of these, formerly issued to police units, have been imported and approved by ATF without the slide safety often seen in such guns, replaced instead with a trigger-mounted tabbed safety.
These have been factory refurbished with the original accessories and will be offered for around $400.
And retain the original Yugoslav crest.
M85 in .300 Blackout
We just love the ZPAP M85, a 5.56 NATO caliber Yugo pattern AK, in both its carbine and pistol variants, and have reviewed it in a few different flavors.
The big news from SHOT is that the M85 is coming in .300 BLK, including a gas system that has been tweaked to run better while suppressed.
Zastava is developing a 300 Blackout rifle on the ZPAP 85 platform that is billed as working well with the ZVUK suppressor.
More Surplus parts in more places
Zastava is importing AB2 and AB1 part kits and rifles, including trench art-marked M70s.
The guns that the company had on display were striking as battlefield relics and showed some of the interesting possibilities available to collectors.
The kits have seen a variety of hard use, sometimes including very authentic “battlefield pickup” finish and trench art.
Look at the ersatz optics rail on this one.
Other items on the schedule for 2026 are a 16-inch barreled ZPAP M90 variant, something customers have been asking for.
Alabama-based Kimber has made a big move to dominate the double-stack 1911 pistol space by offering the new DS Warrior series.
Debuting at SHOT Show in Las Vegas last week, the Kimber DS 1911 Warrior–borrowing from the company’s classic old Warrior line– is offered in not just 9mm but also .45 ACP, 10mm, and .38 Super chamberings.
Further, besides the standard 5-inch Government barrel format, they are also producing a 6-inch longslide hunter style Warrior in 10mm.
The standard format Warrior is optics-ready, uses an RMR optics footprint, and runs a 5-inch barrel. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com.)
The slides are tastefully blank, sans any huge rollmarks. (Thank you, Kimber)
The longslide is a beast, and will surely be a hit with backcountry folks and handgun hunters.
A conceptual design using custom Cerakote and a TLR-9, which looks small on the massive accessory rail of the 10mm longslide 1911 DS Warrior.
All models are optics-ready for RMR-pattern mounts under a TAG cover plate with a fixed rear sight. The pistols use Kimber’s internal 1911-style extractor, a bushing system barrel, mil-spec guide rod, and a match-grade trigger.
They use stainless Checkmate 2011-pattern mags with the 9mm and .38 Super variant shipping with a 17+1 flush and 20+1 extended, while the 10mm goes 11+1/13+1 and the .45 ACP 15+1/18+1
Best yet, they are made in Alabama– not imported– and have an MSRP that starts at $1,099 and tops out at $1,350 for the 6-inch 10mm model. That’s a good bit less than even the Springfield Prodigy and on par with Turkish-made guns without the baggage and QC issues.
Kimber also had the new compensated Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation DS 1911 Warrior on display, with a tasteful alpine motif. “Coming soon.”
