Law Enforcement

Common items like 357 Magnum revolvers usually mean wide supply, as a recent check of Gunbroker.com showed when we began looking for a Taurus 605.

The M&P45s feature a 4.6-inch barrel with an overall length of 8.0 inches. The M&P45 comes standard with three interchangeable grips, a steel dovetail mount front sight and a steel Novak Lo-Mount carry rear sight. Tritium sights are also available. A universal Picatinny-style equipment rail has been incorporated for tactical lights and lasers. Our polymer pistol had an empty weight of 25.1 ounces.The new frame-mounted ambidextrous thumb safety acts as a passive safety device, allowing the slide to be pulled toward the rear, clearing the firearm without disengaging the safety. Another feature is the lanyard attachment. All M&P45 pistols feature a Zytel polymer frame reinforced with a stainless-steel chassis and a hardened black Melonite-finished stainless-steel barrel and slide and a Dark Earth Brown grip. This is a silly name for a color—Sand would have been fine—but we overlooked it.

Smith & Wesson’s M&P45s continue to win new converts. A test of the gun in the January 2008 issue of Gun Tests rated it as an “A-“ pick. A search of Gunbroker.com found a handful of the guns with current bid prices below the $619 MSRP cited in the GT article.

Mossberg announces the introduction of the new TASER X12 Dedicated Less-Lethal Shotgun.

Heckler & Koch began developing a new self-loading compact pistol around 1971 before bringing out the PSP (Polizei Selbstlade-Pistole, or Police Selfloading Pistol) for the West German Police in 1976. Production of the PSP started in 1979.Our test gun was a standard PSP, whose overall length was 6.5 inches with a 4.1-inch barrel and a sight radius of 5.9 inches. The gun measured 5.0 inches in overall height and weighed 30.4 ounces with an empty magazine, relatively heavy because of the low-profile steel slide and steel frame. Our test gun came in a black case with two magazines and bore brush.

Bianchi International has introducted the new Model 7150 Luminator MCX duty holster to its AccuMold line. The new Model 7150 Luminator MCX duty holster features a ballistic weave exterior with a closed-cell foam center and smooth nylon pack cloth lining. Designed for pistols with lights attached, the semi-closed bottom covers the bezel of the light to protect the lens. Additionally, the open muzzle design allows debris to fall through the holster. …

Ruger is now retrofitting SR9 pistols and will continue to send shipping boxes to customers on a weekly basis, the company says.

Mossberg’s 930 Home Security model autoloading shotgun has a new cousin: the SPX, distinguished by its 18.5 inch cylinder-bore barrel, 7-round capacity extended magazine tube (plus one in the chamber) and LPA ghost ring rear sight and winged fiber optic sight.

Smith & Wesson Corp. has introduced the M&P15R, an addition to the company’s M&P tactical rifle series. The new AR-15 style rifle is capable of firing 5.45 x 39mm ammunition and is available as a high-quality semi-automatic rifle or as a complete upper-receiver assembly kit.

The Model 457 is one of the oldest remaining products in the Smith & Wesson catalog. Also available with a matte stainless finish (model number 457S), this design is closely related to the "Second Generation" pistols that were popular with law enforcement when semi-automatics first replaced the revolver. What we liked best about the 457 was the way it lined up in our hands.

The distance between the face of the trigger and the rear of the grip was just right, even when the trigger was in its rearward position for single-action fire. The plastic grip looked and felt like it was part of the aluminum frame. The seven round magazines included a basepad with a pinky rest, so even those shooters with the largest hands were satisfied.

The recently launched Ruger SR9 pistol, the first striker-fired pistol from Ruger, is now available with a blackened stainless slide on either a black polymer frame or an OD Green polymer frame.

Following quickly on the heels of the successful introduction of the Ruger SR9 9mm pistol, the Ruger LCP (Lightweight Compact Pistol) is the latest addition to the Ruger Hard-R line of products.