Viewpoints

A SIRENS SONG
Apparently, Democrats have lost on the gun-control issue so often that theyre considering changing their public stance on the issue. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is suggesting that the party take a more regional approach on gun-control legislation. In rural states in the West, for instance, Democrats could view gun-control laws as state issues, rather than promoting national gun controls that have been losers for the party since 1996. That would allow Western and Southern Democrats to finesse the issue and avoid riling red-state voters who want to protect their Second Amendment rights.

Voters in blue states or in blue areas of red states wo...

Re Budget .45 Colt Cowboy Guns: Heritage Comes Up Shooting
February 2006
I just read your article comparing the Heritage Rough Rider to the Taurus Gaucho. I dont understand how the same ammo fired through the same length barrel can produce significant differences in velocity. Can you explain that?

I recently purchased a Gaucho with case-hardened finish, and I like it a lot. I find it shoots very close to point of aim (less than 1 inch high), though I did not use a sandbag rest as you did. The fit and finish is excellent, and the light trigger pull feels like my S&W 686. I think your Dont Buy rating was a bit harsh for a very nice cowboy gun. I would like to find a Rou...

Gun and Knife for a Good Cause
Sportsmen, collectors and others who appreciate craftsmanship and unique history have a chance to own a one-of-a-kind Ruger No. 1 single-shot rifle and an original Ross Tyser RavenFork Hunter-Skinner package that includes a matched set of hunting knives in Thunderforged Damascus. Both gun and knife will be sold to the highest bidder on www.Gunbroker.com.

[IMGCAP(1)]The items are currently up for auction, and bidding will conclude during the 2006 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, Feb. 12, at noon, PST. All auction proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Wonders of Wildlife (WOW), the ne...

Re Waiting on Rita, Part II
November 2005:
Todd, personally I think your choices are about as good as it gets under the circumstances. The 10/22s advantages are numerous and convincing. If you wanted a slight variation on the theme, I think you could say what one handgun and one long gun? One answer is exactly what you went with; another would be a .38 Special/.357 Magnum instead of 1911 .45 ACP could be a personal alternate choice. The other answer to the same question is a .22 LR handgun and something else, such as the 12 gauge, AR, Mini or whatever) for the long one.

Derek M.

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Can I take two? :) Springfield Armory TRP Operator w/light rail and Surefire...

What We Do, And Why
The overwhelming tone of reader mail we get is gratitude for telling it like it is. As youll see when you read about concealable, but pricey, .45 ACPs from Para Ordnance and Springfield Armory, hopped-up 1911 pistols and replacement barrels, and lever-action and autoloading carbines suitable for self-defense, hardnosed critiques are our exclusive franchise. You wont read critical buy-this, dont-buy-that comparisons of firearms products anywhere else.

Were glad this approach is unique, but its always surprising to many shooters. If you go onto any shooting range anywhere in this country (or the world, I suppose), youll hear frank discussions of firea...

Re Waiting on Rita,
November 2005:
We live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the threat of a disaster - earthquake, terrorist, etc. - is fairly real. Your question probably will get different responses from different areas. My wife and I are quite proficient with our weapons. Our house guns are a Les Baer P-II 5-inch 1911 for me and a Glock M21 .45 for her, as well as a Mossberg shotgun tricked out with extra shells and a light.

Which to take with only one permitted? We would take the Glock .45 and 5,000 rounds of ammunition and at least six extra mags. Inside 75 yards a miscreant is in real trouble with either of us and the Glock. Plus, the Glock is easy to take down...

WAITING ON RITA, PART II

Last months column, Waiting on Rita, has generated some very interesting mail so far - and the November 2005 issue has only been out a couple of days. If youll recall, I asked Gun Tests readers what guns they would pack if they could only take one (or one per car, as I did). Heres a sampling of what Ive received so far:

Steve Ashman writes, That was a hard question, how to limit myself to one gun in an evacuation. I would take my Ruger Mini-14 with a see-through-mount 4X scope, all the 20- and 30-round mags I had, and a 1000-round brick of Salt Lake surplus 5.56mm. The reason would be reliability of the Mini-14. I have put many thousands of rou...

On occasion, God (or Jehovah, Yahweh, Muhammed, or for you Pagans, Mother Nature) deigns to remind us of what is important in life. Impending disaster has a wonderful way of focusing the mind, and in late September, we had all the focus we wanted in the form of Category 5 Hurricane Rita.

A goodly portion of your humble gun-writing staff lives in the Houston area, including Contributing Editor Roger Eckstine, Product Coordination Editors Ben Brooks and Kevin Winkle, Managing Editor Tracey Taylor, and me. As Rita moved from the Atlantic into the Gulf of Mexico, she blew Publisher Tim Cole a wet kiss in southern Florida, then headed for what was initially the lower Texas coast.

As the we...

Re Convertible .45 Revolvers: Ruger and Cimarron Face Off
May 2005:
As usual, your evaluation was thorough and informative. However, I believe your recommendation not to buy the Cimarron [shown adjacent] because the gun shot low with the .45 ACP loads did not serve your readers well. All guns, whether equipped with fixed or adjustable sights, will shoot low at some yardage. Most practical shooters learn how much to elevate the front sight over the rear sight to compensate for this. Some even place a dot or scribe a mark on the front sight to indicate where they need to hold for longer yardages.

Overall, you rated the Cimarron higher than the Ruger. I have owned and sho...

Re M1 Garand Shootout: We Test Fulton, Springfield, and CMP,
September 2005:
If you havent done an article on the Auto-Ordnance M1 carbine, please consider it. Ive looked at CMP M1 Garands, and I just dont think thats what I want. Now, the Auto-Ordnance M1 carbine is around $600 MSRP, and Ive found one as low as $539. Thats only $39 more than the maximum I wanted to spend. If I could only get Gun Tests blessing, I would be very grateful, as I greatly respect and put my faith in your magazine.

Dan Davis

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Steyr Autoloaders
I am a long-time subscriber and continue to use Gun Tests as the tiebreaker in all my purchases. So far I have acquired...

SERIAL NUMBERS SHELVED FOR NOW

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has shelved a gun-control measure that would have required manufacturers to stamp microscopic serial numbers on all handgun ammunition sold in California.

The bill, SB 357, has passed the Senate and is pending in an Assembly fiscal committee. The legislation would require manufacturers to imprint or etch a serial number on the end of each slug or bullet starting in 2009. Boxes of cartridges bearing the same number could then be linked to buyers driver licenses recorded at the time of sale.

Lockyer said coding handgun ammunition could help identify suspects in many murders and other violent crimes. No...

Though the news is unquestionably positive on the national legislative scene, theres still a lot of hooey on the state beat.

You may remember when the federal assault- weapons ban expired last September, Sarah Brady claimed that the streets would be filled with AK-47s and Uzis. Of course, nothing like that happened.

What has happened is this: The bans expiration has showed how useless the law was.

Researcher John Lott Jr. has repeatedly said that not a single published academic study has ever shown that these bans have reduced any type of violent crime.

Gun owners knew the phrase assault weapon was bogus, that the rapid-fire machine guns used by the military were never in s...