Tag Archives: gun review

New Springfield Armory Optics-Ready TRP AOS 1911

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Back in the 1990s, the FBI was in the market for a pistol to equip its elite Hostage Rescue Team and regional SWAT teams, and the contract went to Springfield in 1998 for 500 M1911s crafted to very tight specs via meticulous hand fitting in the SA Custom Shop. Shortly after, the Marines ordered a batch of 150 similar pistols for its MEU(SOC) units. The HRT contract gun soon morphed into the Professional Model and eventually the TRP, which has gone on to become legendary over the past couple of decades.

SA’s Professional 1911s

Standard features on today’s top-shelf TRPs– going beyond the careful selection and fitment of components– include front strap checkering at 20 lines per inch, forward slide serrations, sighting plane serrations, the company’s Gen 2 Speed Trigger, a skeletonized hammer, premium sights, a straight mainspring housing, and G10 grips.

New for 2025 are eight optics-ready models, all equipped with an Agency Arms optics sighting system and offered in 9mm- both a first for the TRP. Priced at $1,999 across the board (we told you these were Springfield’s top shelf 1911s), there are full-sized all-steel 5-inch railed models in either black or Coyote Brown and in .45 and 9mm, as well as a lightweight Commander-length (4.25-inch) Carry Contour series in the same calibers and color options.

Springfield sent me a Coyote Commander-length Carry Contour TRP AOS in 9mm in this review; light and optic are not included.

In a nutshell, we found it to look good, feel great, and run like a gazelle. The slide-to-frame fit is legit, and the gun has no slop. The AOS system allows for lots of different optics, and it is great that SA is now making the TRP in a 9mm option, even if some consider such a thing in a 1911 platform to be an abomination.

The only rocks we can find to throw on this one are that the asking price of $1,999 is a bit steep, even in today’s inflated dollars, and that, perhaps a direct mount ACRO footprint would be a bigger hit.

The full review is over in my column at Guns.com.

Alakablam

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If you think an AR-15 pistol in 5.56 is kinda rowdy, how about an AR-10 in .308? I’ve been fooling about with one for the past few months (when I can get ammo).

Behold, the Diamondback DB10P, with a 13.5-inch barrel.

DB10

Equipped with an adjustable Gear Head Works Tailhook Mod 2 stabilizing brace, the DP10 is 31 inches long overall with the hook extended all the way and hits the scales at 7.8 pounds.

More in my column at Guns.com.

That’s a spicy meatball

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If a 31-inch long 5.56 NATO-caliber AR is sweet, what is one that is the same length and chucks .308 Winchester and comes in at less than $1K?

The Diamondback DB10P13 I’ve been fooling around with.

Oof.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Playing with Jelly

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It is not rocket science. Longer barrels give you more complete propellant combustion which translates to more velocity imparted to the projectile. The more velo, the more energy is carried by the projectile on the impact and the higher ballistic performance. In short, whittle the barrel down and you sacrifice some performance. By way of thinking, the optimal performance for NATO 5.56mm ball, such as M855, is wrung through a 20-inch barrel.

With that in mind, I wanted to check and see just how much velocity dumped by running a 7-inch barrel out of a DB15 I have been testing for the past few weeks.

This thing.

For reference, the Winchester 55-grain 5.56 NATO FMJ rounds I chose for the bulk of our reliability testing have a listed 3,270 fps muzzle velocity generating 1,305 ft./lbs. muzzle energy. We found that, out of the 7-inch DB15, an average across five rounds hit closer to 2,240 fps, which, using the standard bullet energy formula, translates to something like 619 ft./lbs., or a loss of about a third of its velo and half of its energy.

How effective is that? Well, in 10% gel, the FBI recommends 12-to-18 inches of penetration to be considered an effective self-defense round. In our tests with a 16-inch block of Clear Ballistics 10% gel, I found that every round of a 7-shot test string of Winchester 55-grain FMJ penetrated the entire block and left a significant channel in its wake. 

Food for thought. Now to test some Gold Dots and the like to see how they expand.

An 8-pound pistol

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So for the past few weeks, I have been fooling around with a T&E DB15 pistol. Featuring a 7-inch barrel, it is a fairly compact blaster and I have to admit that the KAK Flash Can and Gearhead Works Tailhook is growing on me.

While right out of the box, the 23-inch long 5.56 NATO handgun weighs just 4.53-pounds, I have added a Sig Sauer Romeo 5 red dot, a 600-lumen Streamlight and a Magpul D60 drum to it, bringing its loaded all-up weight with spare batteries (in the MOE grip) and boolits of 8.7-pounds.

Nice. For reference, the total cost as shown with all accessories is still under $1K. 

More in my column at Guns.com. 

So I have been carrying the Beretta 92X Compact for 2 months…

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I’ve have been shooting and carrying one of Beretta’s newest versions of their iconic Model 92, the 92X, and have a few things to report.

While the standard/full-sized 92X uses a 4.7-inch barrel to produce an 8.5-inch long handgun that tips the scales at 33.4-ounces while unloaded, the smaller Centurion is a more Commander-style offering with a shorter 4.25-inch barrel which boils down to a 7.75-inch overall length.

Going even shorter, the 92X Compact has the Centurion-length slide and barrel on a shorter frame (5.25-inches high, versus the standard 5.4-inch) to produce a handgun more suited for concealed carry. This puts the Compact in roughly the same class, size-wise, as guns such as the Glock G19, Sig Sauer P229, and S&W M&P M2.0 Compact.

I have carried it for over 400 hours and ran 2,000 rounds in it drawn from a selection of loads from Winchester, Federal, CCI (Blazer), Wolf, and PMC in weights between 115- and 147-grain with a mix of various training and self-defense ammo in standard commercial, military, and +P velocities.

Long story short: one malfunction in shooting, some belly skin lost in carry. Other than that, not bad. Not bad at all.

In the end, the 92X gives the modern shooter a reliable handgun that stands on 40+ years of legacy while having a lot of features– DA/SA hammer-fired action, all-metal construction, slide-mounted safety/decocker– that you aren’t going to find on the average plastic fantastic.

Further, it does it all in three available sizes with a ton of aftermarket support. The 92X series may not get people to drop their polymer striker-fired handguns, but it does give those who are familiar with, or prefer, the 92 families a more contemporary pistol that is both fun to shoot and dependable.

See the full review with more context in my column at Guns.com

One round for every second of the minute

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Magpul’s D-60 is billed as a durable, lightweight, highly reliable 60-round 5.56×45 NATO/.223 Remington polymer drum magazine for AR15/M4 compatible firearms to include the M16, FN SCAR MK16/16S, HK416, MR556, M27 IAR, IWI Tavor, and others.

I got my hands on one back in August and have been kicking it around for a few months to see how it held up.

Full review in my column over at Guns.com  (with a bunch more pictures and technical specs etc).