Viewpoints

I have seen and done much, but I am still amazed at how many people praise "pocket pistols" over a more substantial weapon. I have carried for about 60 years (yes, I carried when I was 11) and have used virtually every caliber. As I got older, I have gone from the 45 ACP to a Ruger SR9C in, of course, 9mm for a multitude of age-related reasons, but still consider being armed a responsibility to my family. Using the extended magazine, I am comfortable having that 16 rounds plus two spares in a custom Rick Harvey mag carrier (with the bonus of a flashlight between the mags). At 6'5" and 185 pounds, this is easy to carry (24/7/365) and conceal. During the several events whereupon it was necessary to draw my weapon (in the past four years), I never felt undergunned, but I would have felt that with just the Ruger LCP in my ankle holster. People need to face reality; real life usually dictates you need more than the rounds available in a pocket pistol. And yes, I am old and grumpy.

The Colt Trooper was made from 1953 to 1969. The Trooper Mark III superceded the Trooper and had a redesigned lock mechanism. It was manufactured from 1969 to 1983 in blue and nickel finish with 4-, 6-, and 8-inch barrel lengths. An owner's manual can be obtained by calling Colt at (800) 962-2658. The Trooper III in our test was made in 1974.

The Colt Trooper Mark III is for all practical purposes the working man's Python. Sound good? It features a serrated front sight pinned in place. The rear sight is fully adjustable, and it should be more durable than similar designs since the rear notch moves back and forth inside a protective frame. While adjustment for elevation is clockwise for down and counter-clockwise for up, the windage adjustment is reversed. Turn it to the right if you want the point of impact to move left, and turn left to bring the POI to the right.

Another feature is the direction in which the cylinder rotates. While other revolvers move counterclockwise, expecting a Colt to go bang requires the first round to be in the 11 o'clock position prior to cycling. Also, to release the cylinder one pulls rather than pushes on the latch.

It could be argued that the AR pistol evolved out of a desire and need for shooters to own a legal short-barrel rifle-caliber weapon without having to jump through BATFE hoops or pay for a tax stamp to own an SBR (short-barreled rifle). The difference between an AR rifle and pistol comes down to the pistol not being compatible nor able to attach a stock. We wanted to take a look at these AR pistols for home defense and other uses where a compact firearm makes sense, because they offer a number of benefits over a conventional AR rifle, mainly, being more maneuverable while being chambered in a rifle caliber and being compatible with common AR-15 magazines. We acquired three examples, a Spike's Tactical The Jack custom build, a CMMG Mk4 K, and a Kel-Tec PLR-16. The Spike's and CMMG are true AR-15 mechanisms reconfigured to a pistol, while the Kel-Tec uses a different operating mechanism. All three are chambered in 5.56mm NATO/223 Rem. and all are compatible with AR-15 magazines.

We tested these pistols for accuracy, performance, reliability, compatibility with a range of AR-15 magazines, maintenance, ability to be customized, and cost. We found that the Kel-Tec was inexpensive compared to the CMMG and Spike's Tactical pistols. The Kel-Tec, however, needed to be operated differently. The CMMG and Spike's were an easy transition from AR rifle to AR pistol. An AR pistol, as we found out, is nearly as effective as a full-size AR at close to mid range. With the right ammunition, they could be tuned to be a very capable home-defense choice for anyone in the family competent to operate a firearm. Namely, using frangibles to limit overpenetration through walls and doors while still supplying lots of pop.

The AR pistol's edge is its size, but it is also a disadvantage, as an AR pistol is not as easy to shoot as a rifle or a traditional handgun. They are large and require two hands to effectively deliver accurate shots. You could get off a few shots holding an AR pistol with one hand, but the weight of the pistol causes muscle fatigue. A typical full-size handgun may weigh more than 2 pounds loaded, compared to these AR pistols, which weighed from 3.2 to 6 pounds unloaded. Add a pound or more for a 30-round magazine, and you've got a sidearm that would wear out nearly anyone who didn't transport them with a sling, just as you would with a rifle. We used one of the SIG SBX Pistol Stabilizing Braces ($149; SIGSauer.com) and found we liked to use the brace differently than intended, which we will get into shortly.

We also fired the pistols using a Blackhawk Storm Sling ($33.95; Blackhawk.com), a single-point sling with a built-in bungee cord, which many team members felt was an excellent way to carry and control the pistol. We tested with three different AR-15 magazines, including a Brownells USGI CS (Brownells.com; $14) constructed of aluminum, and two polymer magazines, the Magpul PMag Gen2 (Brownells.com; $12.30), and the FAB Defense Ultimag (TheMakoGroup.com; $25). For fast reloads, we also used a Kydex AR magazine carrier from IBX Tactical (IBXTactical.com; $35).

Building an AR pistol is not just a matter of installing a short barrel in a upper receiver and swapping out the receiver extension/buffer tube. Short barrels lose velocity and provide less dwell time for the projectile, so manufacturers need to tune and time the mechanism. A short barrel also needs to work on a range of loads from low- to high-quality ammunition. Reliability can be an issue.

Hands down, the CMMG and Spike's offered more customization than the Kel-Tec because they are compatible with a range of AR-15 aftermarket products — triggers, rails, pistol grips, BUIS, and more. The Kel-Tec is not as compatible. Also, for those testers already familiar with an AR-15, the CMMG and Spike's were much easier to maintain. But there's much more to consider, which we relate below:

Maura Healey, the attorney general of Massachusetts, recently rewrote the state's 1998 Gun Control Act to reinterpret what it had meant since 1998. Healey explained how she would now enforce the state's gun law. The Massachusetts assault weapons ban prohibits the sale of specific weapons like the Colt AR-15 and AK-47 and explicitly bans "copies or duplicates" of those products. "Copies or duplicates" mean "state compliant" versions of Modern Sporting Rifles sold in Massachusetts, which might lack a flash suppressor, a folding or telescoping stock, or other features. The effect could mean that all AR-15s that have been modified to comply with Massachusetts law are now illegal purely because they are AR-15s.

While you didn't like the sights, short grip, or the long DAO trigger of the Kahr CW380, I loved all of them when comparing this gun to the others available at the time, especially the long smooooooth trigger. What a wonderful trigger the Kahr has! Once I bought it, I began adapting it to my own needs and use. First, I added two additional magazines and a pair of Pearce grip extenders, then added a Hogue rubber grip. The Pearce grip extenders allow me to get all three fingers on the grip, and the Hogue makes it extremely comfortable. Next I added a Crimson Trace laser for low-light situations. Now, I have what I consider to be a perfect pocket pistol. It is invisible in a pocket holster. Sorry to disagree, but IMHO, the LCP doesn't come close to my Kahr. I suggest everyone adapt whatever they buy/use to their hands, eyes, stance, needs, and abilities to maximize its utility. Then practice, practice, and practice.

We haven't tested a lot of Coopers, mainly because of their expense. The last one was in May 2003, a Cooper Arms Custom Classic 22 LR priced at $1895. We said, "Opening the box on the Cooper was a sheer delight, and it takes quite a rifle to impress our somewhat jaded crew. Even at the end of our test sessions, everyone who picked up the rifle still had to say, ‘Man, what a lovely rifle!" Further: "The wood was really nice. The checkering was really nice. The ebony forend tip was really nice. The fit of the Niedner steel butt plate was really…. You get the picture. This was a looker. It reeked of quality… The balance was superb, belying the rifle's weight of 6.7 pounds. It was slightly muzzle heavy, which we liked… Intricate high-quality checkering like this that is extremely well done is sometimes glossed over or missed entirely, but one of the people who saw this rifle was a stock maker, and he said he'd spend a long time getting checkering that good.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision that upholds the exclusion of certain firearms from the protection of the 2nd Amendment. In 2014, Pennsylvania resident Ryan Watson filled out an application on behalf of a trust to make and register an M-16/style machine gun with the ATF. Despite a federal law prohibiting any individual from manufacturing or possessing a machine gun after 1986, the ATF inadvertently approved his application. Afterward, Watson had his machine gun manufactured. A month after that, he received a call from the ATF saying that his application had been "disapproved."

As a carry handgun, the Glock is rugged, reliable, and combat worthy. About the only modifications that actually improve the Glock are the addition of a better trigger and a set of aftermarket sights. We dealt extensively with the issue of trigger replacements in the April 2014. There, we installed a Zev Technologies' GlockWorx Ultimate kit from Brownells.com ($250, #100-006-566WB, Mfr. Part: ZTFULULT4G9BLK) into our Glock 17. We gave the Ultimate Kit an A grade, saying it "was the upgrade that produced the biggest difference in performance all by itself, increasing the accuracy of the Glock 17 from an average grouping of 2.3 inches down to 1.6 inches."

Also in the April 2014 issue, we looked at two sight-upgrade kits, both from Brownells. One was the Brownells Glock 17 Sight Upgrade Kit ($200, #080-000-919WB), which included a Meprolight (Kimber) ML-10224 Tru-Dot Night Sight System for Glock 17, 19, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39; an MGW Glock Sight Adjustment Tool, and an Ed Brown Front Sight Tool for Glock. Since we had the installation tools handy, we also ordered a set of TruGlo tritium fiber-optic Brite-Sites ($90, #902-000-107WB, Mfr. Part: TG131GT1Y), yellow rear and green front. We chose to put the TruGlo sights on the Glock 17 and the Tru-Dots on a G34 so that we could shoot them side by side.

With the Ed Brown Front Sight Tool for Glock ($20 sold separately, #087-017-001WB, Mfr. Part: 952) and the MGW Glock Sight Mover ($100 sold separately, #584-045-017WB, Mfr. Part: MGW309) for the rear sight, we started the switch with a disassembly of the slide to get access to the front sight. With the Ed Brown front sight tool and a small crescent wrench, we loosened the screw beneath the sight and removed it, then replaced the white dot with the new TruGlo front sight and tightened with the crescent wrench. Once the front sight was swapped, we hooked the slide into the MGW. The device came with some thin plates to raise the slide up the right height. We did not need them. The old sight drifted out with relative ease, going left to right pointed away from us. The new rear TruGlo sight did require some minor fitting with a file and a little more strength to slide in, but with the MGW tool, leverage was not a problem. We used the same process to put the Meprolite sights onto a factory Glock 34.

Despite the new TruGlo sights being fixed like the originals, we found them to be much clearer and easier to acquire and reacquire targets. We took to the range with the TruGlo sights installed, using all other original parts, and we cut our average group size down by almost half an inch, from 2.3 inches with the standard Glock to 1.9 inches with the TruGlo sights. We turned down the lights over the shooters, leaving the targets illuminated to check out how much the tritium would glow in the fiber-optic sights. The green front sight was quite bright, while the rear yellow sights were significantly dimmer, although still visible.

The Meprolight Tru-Dots provided an even more impressive change on the G34. We shaved just over a full inch off our average group size at 10 yards once we installed them.

Upgrading fixed sights can seem like a challenge to someone who hasn't done work on pistols previously, but with these tools and the simplicity of Glock's designs, this upgrade is a great place to start if you want to attempt a DIY project. You can drift the sights out with a punch, which will save $100 for the MGW tool, but you risk rupturing the tritium capsules. The MGW mover requires oil on the crankshaft, but it made drifting the dovetail sights in and out so easy we quickly misplaced our punch set. Overall, we found the TruGlo sights to be a nice upgrade and would recommend putting them in place of the standard non-tritium sights on any factory Glock. We gave them a Grade: A ranking, along with the Meprolight Tru-Dot tritium.

Naturally, readers asked about other sights, so we began looking at more replacements we could test head to head, rather than as a general Glock upgrade. So, again working with Brownells, we assembled a sextet of night sights suitable for installation on various Glocks. Also, we believe you can broaden our recommendations to include other firearms of similar size — the visual presentation won't be appreciably different on different platforms — though the installation process may differ gun to gun.

I'm really bad about looking at the events in California, Maryland, New Jersey, Maryland, and other gun-restrictive states and getting pessimistic about the health of gun rights in the country. I was told recently that such pessimism is a sin, and though I'm not especially religious, I saw the truth in the statement. Devout folks should be optimistic as a part of their character, because they see and proclaim the Good News every day. A fellow named Rick told me that in the hot tub of the club I swim at. I'm usually resistant to being proselytized, especially when I'm not wearing pants, but we had a nice visit and parted friendly. His testimony prompted me to look around for some Good Gun News, which was remarkably easy to find and widespread.

Regarding the Taurus settlement and the problems Lou had with his pistol: On August 4, 2015 I sent Taurus my PT-111 Pro and two magazines. Their website was very poor about updating progress of the return, but by 12/16/2015 I did have a new PT-111 G2 with two mags, all new in the box. I had to pay $25 for the FFL transfer fee, but I was reimbursed by 1/15/16. I am actually quite pleased with the new gun. To get reimbursed, I faxed an itemized receipt to Taurus at (305) 624-1126. I hope this helps Lou and perhaps others.

I am rarely worried when I write these editorials, but this time I am. Here, we are all Brothers and Sisters of the Gun, a community of folks who like to read about, shoot, maintain, accessorize, and buy and sell handguns, rifles, shotguns, and parts. There are few, if any, anti-gun readers sitting in their parents' basements in their pajamas — really, what would be the point of subscribing? So, with that said, I'm simply doing my job here and filling this space with gun-rights-related material because, sadly, politics matter in our ability to enjoy firearms freely.

But any time Donald J. Trump's name gets mentioned, folks tend to get agitated for him, or about him, or against him. I'm merely making sure that my readers know what the putative Republican presidential nominee has to say about firearms because it might get overlooked otherwise. Straight from his website, here are the major points of Trump's recently released gun-policy ideas headlined "Defend The Rights of Law-Abiding Gun Owners."

All in, I'm heartened by Trump's positions. I'm eager to hear your thoughts on these ideas, and please suggest any others you might want to see him adopt if he wins the general election in November.

Maybe, just maybe, doctors should focus on the fact that more innocent people young and old die at the hands of doctors each year than by children getting into unsecured guns at home. It is simply not their responsibility to counsel our young on this subject as in many cases they don't have a clue about firearms in general. I applaud you Todd Woodard, please keep up the good work!

As an avid shooter and a physician, I am really bothered by the idea that physicians need to ask about the presence of firearms and the safety measures in place in the home. Don't get me wrong, this is an important issue, but it shouldn't have to be handled during the annual physical. First, most docs will admit that they are totally naive about firearms and firearms safety. Second, patients have no obligation to be honest. Third, if a patient reveals firearm(s) in the home and that information winds up in the electronic health record, it's there for good. Who has access to this information and for what purposes will it be used? Last, remember the Freakonomics piece about the biggest threat to your children on a play date? Yes, the swimming pool is 100 times more dangerous than the handgun. The swimming pool is infinitely more dangerous than the properly secured firearm. Should I also ask patients about the absence or presence of a swimming pool and how it is secured? Where does this conversation stop? — Posted by: FirearmDoc