The 2011 Pistol Concept: Incredible Popularity

Strayer-Tripp coined the name "2011" before the calendar had turned to that year. We're now well past 2011, and the concept has held up and is thriving for good reason

The Hammerless Revolver: Still A Viable Option

The last time I asked the folks at Smith & Wesson, I was told that their best-selling revolver was the “hammerless” J-frame snubby introduced in 1952 as the Centennial (since that was their hundredth year in business). The gun has a helluva history behind it…and its popularity today is due to solid performance features that went unrecognized for a very long time.

Shoot the Moon: Moon Clips and Revolvers

Full moon clips are simply the fastest way to load/reload a revolver with a swing-out cylinder. The full moon clip revolver isn’t for everyone, but for some applications, it is ideal. As with anything else, you take maximum advantage of its strengths and shore up its weaknesses.

The Under-Appreciated Smith & Wesson CSX 9mm

Do yourself a favor and check out the Smith & Wesson CSX 9mm. It has a lot going for it.

The Rise and Fall of the .40 S&W

The .40’s fall from popularity was precipitous. Today, there are gun shops where if you want a .40 you’ll have to order one because they don’t keep them in stock, and they won’t even take one in trade because no one seems to want to buy a used one.

The Rise and Fall of the .45 GAP

Will .45 GAP rise again? The future is unpredictable, but those of us who own them and like them will stock up on ammo at every opportunity because they did exactly what they were designed to do.

The Rise and Fall of the .357 Sig: A Historical Perspective

In the early 1990s, the sea change from service revolvers to auto pistols in American policing was approaching completion. At Sig Sauer, Sig executive Ted Rowe kept a close finger on the pulse of that market, and noticed a recurring complaint: “We love our Sig Sauer pistols, but we miss the incredible ‘stopping power’ we saw with the 125-grain .357 Magnum round we used in our old revolvers.” The Texas Department of Public Safety, in particular, told Rowe that those Magnum rounds had what they called a ‘lightning bolt effect.’” Rowe then proceeded, with Federal Cartridge, to fix that.

Snub-Nose Revolvers: Which is Right for You?

The small-frame “snub-nose,” known colloquially as a “snubby,” remains the last and strongest bastion of the revolver in the defensive handgun world. The reasons for the snubby's popularity are its concealability, reliability, and simplicity of operation, not to mention the fact that it won’t go out of battery and fail to fire when you need it. We’re talking about a small-frame revolver with a plus/minus two-inch barrel that can fit into a pocket. There are four formats from which you can choose.

The Case for the Glock 26 Pistol

The Baby Glocks, across the board, are amazingly accurate. My first G26 averaged 2.5” groups at 25 yards, better than my first full-size G17. (My first G27 was way more accurate than my full-size G22; the little .40 once gave me five shots in 1.5” with 155 grain Winchester Silvertip .40 from an impromptu bench rest at 25 yards. Only with the Black Hills 165 grain JHP .40 could my G22 compete with that.)

A Year With The Wilson Combat SFT9

I’ve found the Wilson Combat SFT9 to be an increasingly frequent personal companion. We’ve grown to shoot well together. In reviewing for this article, I can’t help but notice that on the 300 out of 300 point IPSC target I shot on a comprehensive qualification in November of 2022, the whole 60-shot group measured about 5.5”.