Handguns

How much does it cost to get a decent .22 "plinker," or whatever youd like to call a .22 pistol for shooting fun in camp or on the trail? Can you get one for under $150? Or will you have to spend many hundreds of dollars? The answers may depend on your proposed use for the gun, but if we limit the use to simply having low-cost fun with a semiauto handgun, the ground has been laid for our current test.We came across a low-cost pistol at a local gun store, the Phoenix HP22A ($140 locally) and could not believe it would be any kind of performer, our opinion being based largely on its extremely low price. We had on hand a more costly pistol by a top maker, Berettas Cheetah Model 87, with a price tag ($675) well over four times the cost of the Phoenix. Both pistols seemed intended for casual shooting. They were certainly not target pistols, and too small for serious self defense. We decided to try these two against each other, and then threw in a recently made High Standard Sport King ($695).Our impression of the Sport King was that although it was larger than the Beretta and much larger than the Phoenix, it seemed to be designed for the same casual uses of the other two, with its fixed sights and Parkerized finish. Its cost indicated it ought to do a pretty good job of busting apart yonder tin can. Heres what we found.

The term "single-stack" is a popular nickname for the Browning 1911 pistol that feeds from a magazine, wherein the loaded rounds are stored directly one on top of the other. This vertical column is one of the elements that give the 1911 its narrow grip profile, a key element for stealth carry and a natural index. The flat grip provides instant feedback, telling the operator where the gun is pointing. The 1911 has been chambered for other cartridges, but the .45 ACP is by far the most popular choice. In this test we will evaluate three single-stack 45s that differ significantly from each other and in varying degrees from the original Browning design.

Of our three test guns, the $1011 Springfield Armory Loaded Champion Stainless Steel PX9142LP was the closest to the original 1911 design. But it operated with a plunger-type recoil system that, according to Dave Skinner of STI, was adapted from the patent that was used in the tiny Seecamp pistols. (Our first experience with this recoil system was our test of the STI VIP pistol in the March 2003 issue.)

The Para Ordnance Tac S DCX745E, $969, was designed in response to the perception that double-action pistols are safer than cocked-and-locked single actions. The Tac S featured the Para Ordnance LDA (light double action) trigger but still offered the advantages of 1911-style ergonomics, including a thumb-operated safety. Both the Springfield Armory and Para Ordnance pistols featured all-steel construction.

Our third gun was the Heckler & Koch USP Compact Tactical, $1179. This is an upgraded version of the $919 USP Compact that is now available to civilian as well as law enforcement personnel. Also referred to as the USP45CT, this gun may be carried as a traditional double-action pistol, wherein the first shot is double action, and subsequent shots are single action, or it can be carried cocked and locked for single-action operation. The HK USP45CT pistol was the only gun shipped with an eight-round magazine.

Buying a used gun presents a lot of trade-offs: The shooter probably saves money, but in the process, he might buy a gun thats worn out, rather than worn in. We recently tested three guns we bought used to see how they stacked up against todays pistols, and if buying one for target or self defense was a wise choice. Simply put, were they shooters or were they collectibles?

Some of the more useful handguns are those revolvers that take the .44 Special cartridge. They work well for hunting, self defense, and we know one shooter who used one to good effect in NRA matches. These revolvers include the .44 Magnum, but many .44 Mags are huge, heavy handguns designed to use the hottest loads in the longest barrels, for such efforts as hunting. While the big .44 is very good at that task, the other - probably more useful - side of the cartridge is as a general-purpose firearm for self defense or for the hiker or plinker who wants more power than the over-loud .357 Magnum. These outdoorsmen dont want a big, heavy gun, but want a lighter package that still throws a 250-grain bullet at useful speed. The .44 Special fills that bill very well.There have been a few small .44 Special revolvers on the market, perhaps none so obvious as the Charter Arms Bulldog. Charter was not alone. Taurus just informed us they recently discontinued a similar-size .44 revolver because of lack of sales. We suspect many shooters had no idea the small Taurus .44 existed, mores the pity. We just found out S&W made a short run of 5-shot revolvers on the L frame, and would love to get our hands on one. But Charters near-snubby-size, five-shot revolvers have been around a long time. Those who own them generally like them, though they are hardly target-grade revolvers. With suitable loads they can be excellent self-defense revolvers, but with really hot loads they can be a handful. Some shooters prefer a larger gun for the .44 Special cartridge, but there arent all that many available, so the obvious choice is a light .44 Magnum with mild loads.We gathered two relatively light .44 Magnums, one an older stainless S&W Mountain Gun, today offered in a blued special edition for about $1000. We also got a new five-shot, stainless Taurus Tracker, $584. And we acquired two .44 Specials, a stainless Charter Arms Bulldog Pug, $399, and S&Ws just-reissued 3-inch Model 24, another special-edition revolver, $1100. We also examined and shot an earlier blued Charter Bulldog, but did not include it in the final report. We wanted to see what changes were made over the years. We tried the four revolvers against each other for general outdoorsmens purposes, with an eye to easy carry, self defense, and overall usefulness. We tested all guns with .44 Special ammunition only, except as noted. We used Black Hills Cowboy Action loads, which feature a 210-grain cast-lead, flat-nose bullet. We also tested with CCI Blazer 200-grain GDHP, and with an unusual load from Black Hills we had not heard of before. This was the .44 Special "Thunder Ranch Special" ammunition, loaded with a 250-grain SWC cast Keith-style bullet. This ammo is available from Black Hills through any stocking dealer, in case you fall in love with it like we did. Any concealed-carry handgun is better off loaded with factory ammunition - not handloads - because of legal reasons. Keith-type cast SWC bullets have been outstanding performers ever since Elmer designed them in the early part of the last century. However, they are not commonly loaded by any large manufacturer, so this find from Black Hills was a revelation for us. Heres what we found.

The 9mm pistolwas the breakthrough sidearm that ushered in todays massive popularity of the self-loading pistols. One of the ways in which the semi-auto has evolved is in its variation in size, making it possible to wear a full-size gun and/or conceal a smaller complement of the same make and model.In this test we will look at three 9mm pistols that are smaller and more concealable versions of full-size duty weapons. The Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm No. 209001, $624, fires from a 4.25-inch barrel and measures approximately 7.5 inches long by 5.5 inches in height. Our test gun here is the Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm Compact No. 209004, which has a shorter grip, 3.5-inch barrel, and sells for $624. Glocks standard bearer, the full-size Model 17, comes with a 4.5-inch barrel; our test gun here is the $599 Model 26, whose tube measured 3.4 inches in length. The Sigarms full-size duty pistol is the model P226. The $739 Sigarms P239 DAK tested here is the smallest in the line. It came with the Double Action Kellerman or, DAK trigger. The P239 is fed from a single-column magazine, unlike its bigger brothers that pile rounds into the magazine staggered side by side.Before shooting we removed the top ends of each gun, separating the recoil springs and barrels. We lubricated the slide and frame rails along with other obvious weight bearing points such as lockup marks along the barrel with KG-4 Gun Oil (kgcoatings.com). Our testers have noticed a level of improved accuracy in their weapons using KG-4 to coat the inside of their barrels, so we followed suit and swabbed the bores of each gun with KG. We also applied KG-5 Trigger Oil to the action. The difference in trigger pull weight was too small to measure in the Smith & Wesson and Glock pistols, but it did help lighten the action of the Sigarms DAK mechanism by as much as 1 to 2 pounds. Testing was performed indoors on the combat range at Top Gun of Texas (topgunrange.com) in Houston.As soon as we began firing, we noticed that each gun demanded a different technique for accurate shooting. Unlike the single-action 1911 or typical double-action revolver, learning to shoot a double-action semi-auto can challenge the shooter to master a different technique from gun to gun. So our first step was to practice with each gun and master the trigger. While the public rattled away on Bays 1 and 2 with handguns and rented machine guns, we calmly fired five-shot groups from a bench at targets placed 15 yards downrange. We followed this with an action test performed standing at a distance of 7 yards with the pistol beginning at low ready. With the office of Hoffners Training and Holsters (hoffners.com) just next door to Top Gun, were sure the HoffnerABC16 target felt right at home being assaulted with ten separate strings of two shots to the body and one to the head. The ABC16 target featured a humanoid silhouette marked with an A at the chest, a B over the cranial pocket, and a C over the groin area plus six 3-inch circles.Our test ammunition included two hollowpoint rounds and a full-metal-jacket target round. They were the Winchester USA 115-grain JHP rounds, Federals 124-grain Hydra-Shok JHPs, and 115-grain FMJ rounds from Black Hills Ammunition. We wanted to know if each gun would run reliably and if accuracy achieved from the bench would translate to accuracy in our stand and shoot action test. Here is what we found.

Weve recently had a chance to shoot handguns, handgun modifications, and accessories against products weve tested in previous issues. In several cases, weve taken guns that were flawed in some way and tried to correct the problems we found because we thought the underlying products were sound.

The use of the word "basic" in describing pistols in this test would shock pistol shooters from less than a decade ago. When it comes to the 1911 .45, what passes for standard equipment has improved dramatically. All three of the guns in this test share the same design and are the lowest-priced models available from their respective manufacturers, but they are by no means "basic" guns, at least not in historical terms.We recently got and shot the $904 Springfield Armory Parkerized w/Night Sights PX9109L, CZ USAs $1079 Dan Wesson Pointman Seven 01900, and one of the lowest-priced 1911s weve encountered, the $617 Taurus PT1911 1-191101.Here is a list of features shared by the test pistols that not long ago were upgrades that were only available from the hands of a custom gunsmith: Beginning at the muzzle we found full-length guide rods, dovetailed-mounted front and rear sights, forward cocking serrations, flared ejection ports, reduced mass hammers, relieved-mass triggers adjustable for overtravel, a wide beavertail grip safety with raised contact area, checkered mainspring housing, checkered grips held in place by Allen screws, and a beveled magazine well.Elsewhere, there were some differences worth noting: The Dan Wesson Pointman had a stainless-steel finish and a BoMar-style adjustable rear sight. The Taurus pistol was blued, and the Springfield model was Parkerized. The latter two pistols offered a low-mount rear sight, windage adjustable by drift only. They also came with ambidextrous thumb safeties. The Dan Wesson thumb safety was left side only.

In our August 2006 issue we reviewed three different .357 Magnum revolvers with 4-inch barrels. The 4-inch magnum is the traditional configuration for the uniformed policeman, and despite the overload of semi-autos now available, the revolver is still a popular sidearm. Each of the guns in our first test, the $615 Ruger GP100, Taurus's $469 M66SS4, and the $646 Smith & Wesson Model 619 were made in the United States.

Since then we have come across a foreign made product that begs comparison to these guns. This was the Alfa Steel .357 Magnum manufactured in Czechoslovakia. We also decided to revisit the Smith & Wesson catalog and test the seven-shot model 686 Plus, catalog number 164194 ($790). Both guns featured a full underlug that enclosed the ejector rod and added recoil-opposing weight beneath the barrel. Each gun offered a ramped front sight with orange-colored insert and a rear sight that was adjustable for windage and elevation. Both guns used a flat-faced hammer and frame-mounted firing pin. Other similarities included finger-grooved grips and counter-clockwise rotation of the cylinder.

Let's see how well this newcomer stacks up against the field.

In this test we will evaluate four small pistols chambered for shooter-friendly 9mm ammunition. All four of the pistols offer single-action fire and a thumb-operated safety to simplify operation.Matching short slides to the proper-strength recoil spring can be challenging. All four of our test guns utilized a two-spring plunger-style guide-rod system that seems to be the answer to providing the proper balance of compression and rebound. Despite this operational similarity all four pistols offered their own unique features.Three of our test pistols spring from the Browning 1911 design: the $1195 Kimber Aegis II, the $899 Para Ordnance Hawg 9, and the Springfield Armory EMP (Enhanced Micro Pistol), $1253. The fourth gun, the CZ USA 2075 Rami, $576, can be carried cocked and locked and cuts about the same profile as the 1911 models, and it may also be fired with a double-action first shot.

We've recently had a chance to shoot two guns one .22 LR pistol and a pricey over-under 12 gauge against guns we've already tested.

In the January 2007 issue, we reviewed Ruger's 22/45 Mark III KP512MKIII .22 LR, $398, and Browning's Buck Mark FLD Plus Rosewood UDX 051429490 .22LR, $417. Since then, we had a chance to shoot the Smith & Wesson 22A-1 107431 .22 LR, $427. Each of these guns featured a 5.5-inch heavy barrel. We shot the 22A-1 head to head against those other guns still in our inventory, and we wanted to update Gun Tests readers on how the third gun fit into the picture.

Likewise, we tested two midrange-price sporting-clays over/unders in the November 2006 issue: the Blaser F3 Competition Sporting, $5195; and Beretta's 687 EL Gold Pigeon II Sporting No. J687526, $5495. Against the two original test guns we pitted the Caesar Guerini Maxum Sporting, $4950, to see how it stood up.

Here's what we found:

Cowboy Action shooters might well consider choosing a .38 Special for their activities if they have even the slightest trouble with recoil from the .45s. Recoil recovery plays a big part in Cowboy competition, speed being mighty important for best scores. We tested a few other .38 Special/.357 Magnum single actions recently, and here we have two more. These are the American Western Arms Ultimate 1873, all blued, for $600, and the Charles Daly 1873 Standard Model, $460. Both have 5.5-inch barrels, and both are made by Pietta in Italy. There are similarities, but the differences are plain to see. Here's what we found.

Big guns may be the stuff of movie legends but in the world of the CHL (concealed handgun license), smaller pistols are more likely the stars. We recently tested five smallish guns that shoot big bullets: They were the $566 .40 S&W Springfield XD40 SC HC, Glocks $614 .45 GAP Model 39, and three others chambered for .45 ACP.