Though the semi-automatic-only HK91 was introduced for the civilian market, it hasn’t been imported since the late 1980s, leaving shooters looking for the qualities of the G3 with little option.

Century Arms is now filling that void with its new military surplus-sourced CA-3. The firearm is reportedly built around parts from the H&K-designed G3 sourced from the Portuguese Army. The NATO member began producing the battle rifle under license in 1962 at its government-owned Fábrica de Braço de Prata facility. The rifle was widely used in the Portuguese Colonial Wars in Africa. Portugal began to phase out the rifles in 2019, and it seems that Century Arms was able to swoop in.

However, to import the firearms meant destroying the receivers and barrels.

The CA-3 is thus a mix of the old and new, a true 21st century take on the G3, and it features not only the G3 roller delayed blowback design but also original parts, including the fixed stock, forend, adjustable front sight, rotary aperture rear sight, trigger group (modified for compliance), bolt and bolt carrier. The rifles are completed with newly-made American components, including the trunnion, barrel, flash hider, stamped receiver, hammer, sear, and charging handle.

Century Arms CA-3 Specs:

• Caliber: 7.62×51 NATO
• Capacity: (1) 20-Round Magazine
• Weight: 9.5 pounds
• Length: 40.5 inches
• Height: 8.7 inches
• Width: 1.8 inches
• Barrel Length: 18 inches
• Barrel Threads: 5/8×24
• Barrel Twist: 1:10 RH
• Muzzle Device: Birdcage Style Flash Hider
• System: Roller-delayed Blowback
• Receiver: Stamped Steel (claw mount compatible for optics)
• Barrel Material: Chromoly 4150 Steel

The Century Arms CA-3 is available now for $999.99 (MSRP).

The post A Blast From the Past: Century Arms Offers Modern Take on the Iconic G3 appeared first on The Mag Life.

The XLV (45) is a double-barrel derringer dedicated to the man and the event. It has a unique flat-sided 4.25-inch barrel that is laser engraved on the right side with Trump’s unmistakable profile and message that states, “Living Legend. I’m Back. Let’s reunite America!” –July 13, 2024. The left barrel flat is left blank for customer-requested engraving. 

Although the XLV (45) makes a statement, it is also a commemorative that is meant to be shot. Built on a matte-stainless steel frame, this two-shooter is chambered in .45 ACP and wears Bond’s hand-filling B6 resin grips. Like other Bond derringers, it features a lockable crossbolt safety and a rebounding hammer. It has the same spring-loaded barrel latch on the left side and has a machined flat in the breech to retrieve the rimless .45 rounds from the chambers after firing. This limited-edition derringer is only available for a limited time and is priced at $545.47.

The post Bond Arms’ New Trump Themed XLV (45) Derringer appeared first on The Mag Life.

But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) unilaterally classified the FRT-15 as a “machinegun.” ATF then sued Rare Breed and went after its customers. You can read about that here if you’re interested.

But Rare Breed challenged the ATF’s classification under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), saying that the agency acted beyond its authority and circumvented Congress. A Federal District Judge has now ruled in Rare Breed’s favor, citing not only the APA, but also the recently decided Cargill v. Garland Supreme Court decision that overturned the bump stock ban.

How the FRT-15 Functions

The term “forced reset” accurately describes how the trigger works. A standard AR trigger resets when the shooter releases rearward pressure, thus allowing the trigger mechanism to move forward. Another press of the trigger starts the whole process over. Most of you know that, of course. But the FRT-15 uses a newly designed hammer that forces the trigger forward to the reset, along with the shooter’s finger, as the bolt carrier moves forward to chamber the next round.

A locking bar prevents the shooter from pressing the trigger again until the bolt cycle is complete. The shooter can take advantage of the hammer-assisted reset to dramatically increase the rate of fire. Or not. With practice, the shooter can manipulate the trigger to fire only one shot or the equivalent of a short burst.

Keep in mind that the locking bar’s pressure on the trigger prevents another press until the bolt cycles. The locking bar is only released as the bolt cycle is completed. The shooter cannot simply hold the trigger to the rear, or the rifle will malfunction. The trigger must execute its function for each round fired. So, while the FRT-15 is capable of a prodigious rate of fire, it is still a semi-automatic trigger.

But the ATF rule subtly changed the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) language to classify the FRT-15 as a “machinegun.” Many of you probably know that the NFA calls any firearm that fires more than one projectile on “a single function of the trigger” as a “machinegun.” ATF’s rule changed that requirement to “a single constant rearward pull of the trigger.” Subtle but significant. That change provided partial grounds for overturning the rule.

 The Court’s Decision

Federal District Judge Reed O’Connor took the time to learn how the FRT-15 works and explained it in his decision. We’ll skip that since we’ve already covered it. We’ll simply note that Judge O’Connor wrote that “FRT’s do not fire multiple rounds with a single function of the trigger and, thus, do not qualify as machineguns.”

But the judge went further. Noting the ATF’s language change, he wrote that “Defendants (ATF) transform the required statutory focus away from the objective trigger mechanics to the subjective actions of the gun user instead. This is incorrect and is the same rewriting of the statute Defendants already attempted – and failed – to do with bump stocks. For purposes of statutory interpretation, it matters not what human input is required to activate the trigger. All that matters is whether more than one shot is fired each time the trigger functions (emphasis added). As Cargill explained, courts cannot look to the shooter’s actions in deciding whether FRTs are machineguns. Indeed, the ‘notion that the definition turns on the actions of an unnamed shooter is inconsistent with both the [definition’s] grammatical and statutory contexts.’”

Judge O’Connor vacated the ATF’s rule classifying FRTs as “machineguns,” meaning it’s like the rule never existed at all. But the decision also orders the ATF to take certain actions. Other aspects of the decision also merit brief discussion.

Court Orders

Judge O’Connor issued the following orders to the ATF:

1. The Court VACATES defendants’ unlawful classification of FRTs as “machineguns.”
2. The Court DECLARES unlawful Defendants’ determination that FRTs are “machineguns.”
3. The Court ENJOINS Defendants – along with their respective officers, agents, servants, and employees – from implementing or enforcing against the parties in this lawsuit, in any civil or criminal manner described below, the ATF’s expanded definition of “machinegun” to FRTs that this Court has determined is unlawful:

• Initiating or pursuing criminal prosecutions for possession of FRTs;
• Initiating or pursuing civil proceedings for possessing, selling, or manufacturing FRTs based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns;
• Initiating or pursuing criminal prosecutions for representing to the public of potential buyers and sellers that FRTs are not machineguns;
• Initiating or pursuing civil actions for representing to the public of potential buyers and sellers that FRTs are not machineguns;
• Sending “Notice Letters” or other similar communications stating that FRTs are machineguns;
• Seizing or requesting “voluntarily” (sic) surrender of FRTs to the government based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns;
• Destroying any previously surrendered or seized FRTs; and
• Otherwise interfering in the possession, sale, manufacture, transfer, or exchange of FRTs based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns.

4. This scope of this injunction covers the Individual Plaintiffs and their families, the Organizational Plaintiffs and their members, and the downstream customers of any commercial member of an Organizational Plaintiff to the extent that it does not interfere with other courts, such as the E.D.N.Y. jurisdiction over the Rare Breed Parties (this is an ongoing case in the Eastern District of New York) and other pending criminal cases against individuals already subject to prosecution.
5. The Court further ENJOINS Defendants from pursuing criminal proceedings or criminal enforcement actions against the Rare Breed Parties on the grounds that FRTs are “machineguns.”
6. The Court ORDERS Defendants to return to all parties, including manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and individuals, all FRTs and FRT components confiscated or seized pursuant to their unlawful classification within thirty (30) days of this decision.
7. The Court ORDERS Defendants to mail remedial notices correcting their prior mailing campaign that “warned” suspected FRT owners that possession of FRTs and FRT components was purportedly illegal.

The ATF Overstepped

The ATF overstepping its authority has become a familiar theme of late. Rules addressing bump stocks, frames and receivers, pistol braces, and FRTs all represent that trend. The problem is that the ATF, as an executive agency, does not have the power to enact federal law. Yet those rules carry thousands of dollars in fines and years of prison time as consequences should a citizen run afoul of them. So, they essentially carry the weight of federal law.

The Constitution clearly states that only Congress can enact federal statutes, especially those that carry substantial penalties, as all those rules do or did. Judge O’Connor addresses this in his conclusion, noting that executive agencies making such rules represents “rampant evasion of the democratic process.” Only the people’s elected representatives, “not life-tenured judges and unelected bureaucrats” may initiate and enact statutory change (emphasis in original).

“Rather than respect this intentional feature of our democratic system,” the judge wrote, “Defendants chose to advance an (sic) policy agenda wholly divorced from the NFA’s statutory text. Thus, to allow Defendants’ unlawful action to stand would be to functionally rewrite the NFA. That is not how our democratic system functions.”

What Now?

ATF always appeals decisions that go against them. The last few years have proven that. But this case cited the already settled Cargill Decision as a major part of its reasoning. Might the ATF admit defeat since the Supreme Court has already ruled on a similar case? This could get interesting.

The post Federal Judge Overturns Forced Reset Trigger Ban appeared first on The Mag Life.

Chambered in 9mm Luger (9x19mm), the striker-fired FUSE further offers a long 6.875-inch optics-ready slide, 4.3-inch carbon steel barrel, 1913 accessory rail, and removable magazine well. It is equipped with a fiber-optic front sight and black serrated rear sight. Interchangeable small, medium, and large backstraps are included.

The P365 FUSE will ship with a pair of 21-round magazines and one 17-round magazine – while for those states that have magazine capacity restrictions, it will arrive with three 10-round mags.

Sig Sauer P365 FUSE Specs:

• Caliber: 9x19mm
• Overall length: 7.2 inches
• Overall height: 5.1 inches
• Overall width: 1.1 inches
• Barrel length: 4.3 inches
• Sight Radius: 6.0 inches
• Optics Slide Cut: Compact
• Weight (w/magazine): 23.1 ounces
• Magazines included: Two (2) 21-round / One (1) 17-round steel magazines

“Born from the iconic roots of the game-changing P365, the true crossover handgun has finally arrived; the P365-FUSE is the ultimate in full-size capability and micro-compact concealment for unmatched versatility,” said Robby Johnson, chief marketing officer of Sig Sauer. “With an optics-ready slide and barrel longer than any other compact in its class, combined with the ultra-thin LXG grip, the P365-FUSE delivers on accuracy, performance, and reliability.”

Sig Sauer P365 ROME-X Compact Model

A P365 ROMEO-X Compact model has also been announced, and it will include a factory-installed ROMEO-X compact red-dot optic sight crafted from 7075 aircraft-grade aluminum. It offers a two-MOA dot, 15 brightness settings including night vision, machined anti-reflection grooves on shooter-facing surfaces, distortion-free aspheric glass, and a Beryllium Copper flexure-arm adjustment system.

The ROMEO-X is noted for its low deck height for standard-height iron sight co-witness, while it has a minimum continuous runtime of 20,000 hours at medium brightness setting and utilizes MOTAC (Motion Activated Illumination), MAGNETAC (Magnetic Activation), and D.A.R.C (Dark Adaptive Reticles & Coatings) technologies.

Sig Sauer P365-FUSE ROMEO-X Specs:

• Caliber: 9x19mm
• Capacity: Two (2) 21-round / One (1) 17-round steel magazines
• Overall length: 7.2 inches
• Overall height: 5.7 inches
• Overall width: 1.1 inches
• Barrel length: 4.3 inches
• Sight Radius: 6.0 inches
• Optics Slide Cut: Compact
• Weight (w/magazine): 24.8 ounces

The new Sig Sauer P365-FUSE and P365-FUSE ROMEO-X 9x19mm pistols are now arriving at retail.

The post The Sig Sauer’s P365 FUSE and P365-FUSE ROMEO-X Now Available appeared first on The Mag Life.

It was two years ago that the United States Army selected the Virginia-based Sig Sauer design for the Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW), which will replace the legacy M4 Carbine and M249 light machine gun. The announcement came after a rigorous 27-month prototyping and evaluation period. The NGSW program was initiated to find a replacement for the legacy small arms with a new weapon that could serve as both the main battle rifle and squad automatic weapon – both chambered for the 6.8x51mm common cartridge (also known as .277 Fury). The new round was developed to find a middle ground over the legacy 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm cartridges.

The U.S. military developed a 6.8mm round for testing and initially stated that companies would have to deliver that projectile at a set velocity and range. However, Sig Sauer found it necessary to re-engineer the cartridge to take 25% higher barrel pressure. This was achieved by adding a new steel base cap, which increased the strength of the weakest part of the round.

The new round could eventually become another NATO standard, alongside the 5.56 and 7.62 cartridges.

Sig Sauer will handle the round’s initial production, with the U.S. Army taking over production at its Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri. Sig Sauer will remain a second-source provider of the new ammunition and announced plans last October for a $150 million expansion at its Elite Performance Ammunition manufacturing in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

The gun maker opened the plant in 2016 with just 50 jobs but expanded to 350. With the expansion, it will bring more than 600 new jobs to the region.

New UK Facility

In addition to the new cartridge announcement, Cohen also said that the company will expand its footprint in the UK. That will include a new ammunition plant, which could produce the aforementioned 6.8mm round for NATO members.

In addition, Sig Sauer is expected to be among the firearm firms that will compete for the British military’s Project Grayburn, the program to find a replacement for the SA80 assault rifle – designated the L84A3. The bullpup firearm was the last in a long line of British weapons, including the Lee–Enfield family, to be developed by the Royal Small Arms Factory, the national arms development and production facility at Enfield Lock. The factory was closed down in 1988, and upgrades to the SA80 have been outside firms, including German-based Heckler & Koch.

Though it took 12 years to develop the SA80, Project Grayburn calls for its replacement to begin to enter service as early as 2027.

The post Sig Sauer to Develop New NATO Caliber, Will Build New UK Factory appeared first on The Mag Life.

There were over 1,500 WWII reenactors at the event, along with 80 WWII aircraft, over 200 military vehicles, and two big bands. The entire show encompassed more than 20 acres. To say it was gigantic is an understatement.

Total Immersion

Upon entering the event, which is held on the grounds of the Reading, PA Airport, guests are fully engulfed and immersed in the 1940s. Big band music is being played everywhere. Thousands of people walk around in period clothing, even people who are not officially reenactors; many attendees dress up as well. This, in addition to a couple thousand reenactors, really is a sight to see.

In fact, at the flea market, which is gigantic, there are vendors who sell period clothing. Whether you’re looking to add a piece or two to your 1940s ensemble or acquire an entire outfit, there will be something there for you. Vendors also sell uniforms and all manner of militaria, including weapons and other gear in the flea market. And it’s not just WWII items; it’s from every time period imaginable.

Reenactors walk among the crowds throughout the entire show and are more than happy to pose for photos with attendees. If you’ve ever wondered about details of their uniforms or gear, just ask them. They will gladly launch into a tutorial on whatever you’d like to know. I’ve found them to be gracious when dealing with all types of questions and have a thirst for educating people.

It’s completely normal to see the crowd part, and a jeep with a Browning .50 cal., loaded with soldiers, drives through. Or a German motorcycle with a sidecar, complete with MG-34 mounted on the sidecar, will drive past. Static displays are very cool, but guests will get to see vehicles driving around with regularity, which is fantastic.

Most of the time, they’ll even let people handle the weapons or sit in the vehicles, with one caveat: Ask before you touch! Don’t just grab something and pick it up; that ticks people off. As long as you ask, it will be granted to you about 99.9% of the time. You’ll get to handle belt-fed machine guns, submachine guns such as the .45 ACP Thompson or 9mm German MP-40, rifles, grenade launchers, anti-tank weapons, and pretty much anything else that was in WWII. They even have artillery pieces sitting around.

The Civilian Side Of Things

As if the military aspect of the WWII Weekend wasn’t enough, a sizeable area is set aside to portray the Home Front and what it was like to be a civilian during the war.

One building is set up to resemble a house, with divided rooms such as the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and dining room. The carpets, furniture, and appliances are all 1940s period. Even the cupboards are stuffed with boxes and cans from the time period. The attention to detail (not only here but throughout the entire show) is impeccably obsessive; these folks have an intense drive to get the fine details correct. You’ll marvel at the wringer clothes washing machine and the ice box in the kitchen. The more you look around, the more small details that you’ll notice.

Nearby is a small “store” where you can buy old-time candy and other trinkets.

A service station is also set up, complete with a gas pump out front and period vehicles all around. All the accoutrements are accurate, including the cans of oil and other service station items.

One very interesting stop was at the Victory Gardens stand, where a very sweet lady explained to us how fat, grease, and oil were collected and used around the house during the war years. After the fat outlived its usefulness at home, it was dropped off at the local butcher shop, where it was then collected for use in munitions plants. First, they boiled it to make soap, during which process the glycerin was extracted. The glycerin was then turned into nitroglycerin, used in making gun powder and explosives for the war effort. The time it took from when the fats left a kitchen until it was made into nitroglycerin was about three weeks, which is surprisingly fast.

The kind lady also explained how seemingly insignificant things, such as cloth for clothing, were rationed. Skirts were limited in the circumference that they could be, and some pockets had to be omitted from civilian clothing to save cloth to make uniforms. As well, baggy styles of clothing were banned to stop the waste of excess fabric.

There’s also a movie theater nearby. Next to that is a stage where entertainers put on simulated radio shows, with singing and comedy dialogue. There are seats so an audience can take a break from the weather. Speaking of weather, Pennsylvania has two types of weather for this weekend, and this rarely varies: Sweltering hot with high humidity or rainy with temperatures in the 60s. There seems to be no happy medium with Mother Nature for the first weekend in June. She’ll either leave you flame-broiled or shivering and soaking wet. This year we were blessed with rare, perfect weather in the mid to upper 70’s, with a little cloud cover to give us an occasional reprieve from the sun. Better weather could not have been expected.

Maybe it’s just me getting old, but I now find this Home Front/Civilian section of the show to be just about as entertaining as the military aspect of it.

Special Guests

In past years, we met many very special guests at the WWII Weekend. One year, General Paul Tibbetts was there. And for a number of years, “Dutch” Van Kirk, the navigator for the Enola Gay, would attend. Several of the actual Easy Company vets from the Band of Brothers series were also there, including Bill Guarnere, Don Malarkey, Buck Compton, Forrest Guth, Babe Heffron, and Shifty Powers. Dick Winters even stopped by once, and we missed meeting him by about ten minutes, much to our chagrin.

Col. Robert Morgan, the pilot of the Memphis Belle, attended the show regularly for years, and I had the pleasure of corresponding with him and becoming friends. Opportunities to become friends with heroes such as these do not present themselves very often. I had also become friends with Forrest Guth from Easy Company and found him to be one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. We corresponded often until his passing. In fact, they all were wonderful men who were very friendly and engaging.

My daughter expressed sadness that these great heroes are mostly gone, but she also mentioned that they made the show more exciting and enjoyable. I’m so happy that I had the chance to introduce her to these legends because I can now see how they shaped her love of history. It’s one of the greatest gifts that we can give our children.

As with all others, this year’s show features several World War II veterans, of whom I’ll mention a few here.

• Sgt. Andrew Valero was at the Battle of the Bulge, Ardennes Forest, Hurtgen Forest, Remagen, and security at the Dachau Concentration Camp (post-war).
• Lt. Commander (US Navy) Leo Dorman flew 37 different aircraft throughout WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
• Coxswain Edward Conrad was a Seabea on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, shooting down Kamikaze planes.
• PFC Walter LaSota received two purple hearts and was on Okinawa.
• TSgt. Quentin Stambaugh was a B25 Radioman and Tail Gunner, surviving 38 combat missions and 27 non-combat missions in the Pacific Theater.
• 1st Lt. Ray Firmani was a B-17 pilot who flew 25 missions over Europe.
• Coxswain Edward Czechowski received a silver star for shooting down a Kamikaze with a 20mm canon before it could hit his destroyer.
• Dorothy Trate, “Rosie The Riveter”, manufactured parts for aircraft and other weapons on the home front.

These are just a few special guests; several more were in attendance. It’s always a treat to talk with people who were really there.

Aircraft

Attendees can book rides in various aircraft, including a P51 Mustang, a Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless, a B-25 named “Panchito,” a B-29 named “FiFi,” and a few others.

Or, if you don’t want to go up in the air, you can simply peruse the rows of dozens upon dozens of aircraft and watch many of them flying above the airfield as part of the show. There were several fighter aircraft, as well as several bombers present.

The fighters include a Corsair, a KingCobra, a couple of Mustangs, a Zero replica, and a Warhawk. Various fighter planes were doing high speed passes just above the ground, which was exciting to watch.

Some displays were set up to allow visitors a hands-on aspect to aircraft. Specifically, the nose portion of a B-25 was present and anyone could walk up and check it out.

The top turret from a B-17 bomber was on hand, and it was powered up so visitors could actually get in and spin it around, raising and lowering the guns. These treats were welcomed by both children and adults.

Vehicles

The volume of vehicles present is staggering. There are jeeps and similarly sized vehicles of every description. One year I even saw a German “Goliath”, which is a small, remote controlled tracked vehicle used to deliver explosives. It was small, almost two feet tall, and about five feet long, and seeing it operating was a real treat.

There are German and American tanks, including Shermans, a Stuart, Panzer III and IV, as well as many others. It’s not unusual to see a Bren Gun Carrier and other armored vehicles. Motorcycles with sidecars, armored cars, and half-tracks (both American and German) are plentiful.

I climbed into an M3 Stuart light tank and discovered that the quarters were rather cramped.

If you love armor, you’re going to be very happy here.

Encampments

A French village is set up there, and American and German forces occasionally engage in firefights to battle over the village. Watching machine gunners rip through some belts of blanks, supported by riflemen, is an enjoyable afternoon.

Aside from that, there are encampments portraying American, French, Japanese, and other WWII combatants all around the show. They camp there for the entire weekend. All around these camps, there is gear and weapons set up that visitors can check out and learn about.

Demonstrations

Reenactors performed many demonstrations throughout the WWII Weekend in Reading, PA. One such demonstration really caught my eye: the flamethrower demonstration hosted by the Marine contingent at the show. The Marines performed a simulated assault on a Japanese position in the Pacific on Iwo Jima, complete with flag raising at the end.

This year, the Marines were using four flamethrowers for the assault! It promised to be a spectacular show, and it did not disappoint!

Before the demonstration, I caught up to the detachment’s OIC (Officer In Charge) and asked him a few questions about flamethrowers. I’d seen them in action before, and despite being well over 50 yards away, I could still feel considerable heat coming from them. I asked him how it felt being the gunner of the weapon and how the gunner managed to weather such heat.

He explained that a suction effect is created when the weapon is fired, and that suction brings in cooler, fresh air from behind the gunner, which takes away a lot of the heat. He also mentioned that it’s important to not fire the weapon into the wind but rather with the wind. Further, he noted that anyone standing to the sides of the gunner is in for a significant blast of heat. I believe him!

During this exhibition, all four flamethrowers were in use at once, and the spectacle was nearly indescribable. Flames and black smoke poured forth, much to the crowd’s delight. It’s extremely rare to see anything this special these days, and we felt privileged to be there watching.

Final Thoughts

All in all, 2024 was a sparkling year for Reading PA’s World War II Weekend. The special guests, veterans, aircraft, vehicles, demonstrations, and perfect weather all combined to make it a memorable experience. My daughter and I can’t wait for next year, as we won’t miss it for the world!

The dedication of the organizers and support staff, as well as the enthusiasm of the reenactors, cannot be overstated. They go the extra mile to make the show spectacular. The reenactors are friendly and eager to share their vast knowledge with guests, which makes everyone feel welcome.

Another aspect that puts this show above all others is the sheer volume of World War II equipment present. Nowhere else can you see tanks, planes, artillery, small arms, and reenactors from so many various countries represented. Literally, every country that was in WWII was represented at the show, which is unparalleled.

If you’re a WWII buff, you really owe it to yourself to attend the World  War II Weekend in Reading, Pennsylvania. You’ll thank me later.

The post WWII Weekend in Reading, PA 2024: An Overview appeared first on The Mag Life.

The Best of NRAAM

My NRAAM picks are a mix of firearms and gear. The show was brimming with both, and this year was particularly exciting with a slew of unexpected releases. Some of these were on par with what you’d expect at the SHOT Show, while others were surprises.

Heritage Roscoe

Heritage Manufacturing has grown by leaps and bounds. The company was first known for creating the Rough Rider revolvers, cheap, fun-to-shoot rimfire revolvers in an Old West style. That’s all they were known for, in fact. In the last couple of years, the brand has added revolving rifles, lever-action rifles, double-barrel shotguns, and now a double-action revolver.

The Roscoe, a collaboration between Heritage and Taurus, is a retro reissue of the classic Model 85. It’s not your typical carry revolver but a throwback to the type of revolver you’d see a Private Detective in a noir book or movie carry. With its blued finish and five-shot capacity, the Roscoe is a stylish and functional addition to any collection.

The Roscoe has either a two- or three-inch barrel. The grips are skinny, and the stocks are wood. The ejection rod isn’t shrouded, and the sight is a front-ramping design. It’s a classic double-action revolver that we don’t see much these days. With an MSRP of $299, the Roscoe provides a fun, affordable, and perfectly suitable carry gun.

Taurus 692 Executive Grade

Taurus hits us again with a new addition to the Executive Grade. One I’m particularly excited about is the Taurus 692, an underrated revolver that I’m hoping will get some attention now. The revolver’s claim to fame is the ability to swap cylinders to shoot either .357 Magnum/.38 Special or 9mm. This makes ammo for the gun cheap and affordable, but you don’t lose out on Magnum capabilities.

The Executive Grade model comes with a ported barrel, smooth cylinder, wood grips, and nice sights. The rear sight is adjustable, and the front sight is a high-visibility model. The gun has a three-inch barrel but a fairly large frame. It’s an easy shooter that lets you play revolver fan on the cheap when using 9mm Luger.

This is one of the best choices for new revolver shooters. The sights, slick double action trigger, and low recoiling 9mm will make it pleasant to shoot. With a little practice, you can easily move to .357 Magnums and learn the way of the Magnum.

Taylor and Company TC73 Rifle

Speaking of 9mm in guns, it doesn’t belong in Taylor and Company delivers the TC73, a 9mm model of the Winchester 1873 rifle. Taylor & CO. produced a Single Action Army clone in 9mm a few years back. It was a ton of fun to shoot, and this seems like a smart continuation of that series. Revolvers and lever guns tend to be expensive to shoot.

Every major revolver and lever gun cartridge outside of .22LR is expensive. The classic 9mm cartridge is cheap, widely available, and fun to shoot. It’s a great choice for someone who enjoys plinking with a lever-action rifle but wants something with a little more oomph than a rimfire cartridge.

The TC73 won’t be a cheap rifle, but it does seem to be a niche option. The gun holds ten rounds of 9mm and has an 18-inch barrel. Hopefully, it will outperform the other 9mm lever guns on the market.

Colt Bear Guns

In the early 1990s, Colt released a very short run of revolvers called the Kodiak and the Grizzly. These guns are ultra rare, with less than a thousand of them. They are highly desirable revolvers. Following Colt’s reentry into the wheel gun world, we see Python and Anaconda, but Colt decides to give the modern shooter a shot at the Bear guns.

The Colt Grizzly is a .357 Magnum double-action revolver built on the Python frame. It features a beefy frame design, a vent rib, a full lug, and a smooth, unfluted cylinder. These guns are gorgeous and ready for a hike into the great outdoors. The MSRP is $1,599, which isn’t cheap but less than I expected.

The Colt Kodiak is built on the Anaconda frame and fires the mighty .44 Magnum. The Kodiak gets the same vent rib and full lug treatment as well as the unfluted and smith cylinder. The big difference is the porting up front to keep things easy to control. The MSRP for the Kodiak matches the Grizzly at $1,599.

Shadow Systems CR920X

Shadow Systems has moved into the micro-compact realm with the release of the CR920X series pistol. Shadow Systems makes what are essentially high-end Glock clones, and the CR920X series is more or less molded after the Glock 43X. The gun follows the pattern of a long hand-filling grip with a short barrel and slide.

Unlike the G43X series, the CR920X series utilizes 15-round or 18-round magazines. They are true microcompacts when it comes to magazine capacity. These guns will be available in the premium Elite and base-level Foundation series.

The CR920X series is ready and comes with a short front rail. This represents a premium grade option in the micro-compact world. The slides are fancy and good-looking, the grips are extremely textured, and the little features take the gun to a different level.

The Gear

Shield Arms ROC

ROC stands for Revolver Optics Conversion. Shield Arms is manufacturing the conversion, but the firearms instructors from MDFI designed the conversion. The ROC allows you to easily add a micro red dot to a J-Frame revolver, specifically the S&W 442, but the future holds many other models. This conversion requires no milling, attaches to the revolver’s frame, and allows you to use Trijicon RMR or Shield RMSc footprint optics. It’s a simple option to convert the old wheelguns out there to new technology.

Magpul ELG Furniture

Magpul has taken on the AR market, the AK Market, the MP5, and the Scorpion, and now they are entering the world of lever guns. The ELG furniture comprises a stock and handguard designed for Marlin lever action rifles. The stock takes a page out of the SGA design and uses spaces for an adjustable length of pull, plenty of sling points, and an integrated caddy for carrying extra ammo. The handguard is long, aggressive, and covered with M-LOK slots. These two present a quality but affordable option to modernize a lever gun.

Streamlight TLR-7 HL-X

Big things are happening in the world of weapons light, and some of the big things are small things. The TLR-7 is Streamlight’s compact weapon light that swings in hard to deliver potent power with a compact-sized weapon light. The TLR-7 HL-X model throws 1,000 lumens of light backed by 22,000 candela. That’s crazy for such a small light and takes it into the duty world of weapon lights. This optic can only last 30 minutes on this setting, which is a downside. The system is rechargeable via USB-C and can be swapped to 500 lumens with 11,000 candela for a long lifespan.

New Year, New Guns

NRAAM is over, and we are bathing in the wake of some interesting new releases. I’m a big fan of these releases, and it’s nice to see something outside of the world of AR-15s and M1911s. This year seems like it might be one of the more interesting for gun releases. What do you think? Let us know below.

The post The Best of the NRA Annual Meeting appeared first on The Mag Life.

Heritage Manufacturing is primarily known for its single-action Colt clone, the Heritage Rough Rider. Heritage started out in Florida before moving to a facility in Bainbridge, Georgia, as part of the Taurus. From there, they expanded their lineup to include revolving rifles and even lever actions. Now, Heritage is entering the double-action revolver market with the Heritage Roscoe.

The Heritage Roscoe is similar in style and function to revolvers produced by Rossi for Taurus. However, the Roscoe is made in the USA and mates a bulletproof design with a pair of checkered rosewood boot grips and a carbon steel frame and cylinder that has a blued finish. It features a six-shot fluted cylinder and an unlugged ejector rod. The Roscoe pays homage to the archetypical detective’s handgun and the generations of cops who carried small-framed snub-nosed revolvers like the Colt Detective Special and the Smith & Wesson Model 36.

Like those old classics, the Roscoe is an all-steel gun that weighs 22 ounces unloaded. It holds up to five rounds of .38 Special +P ammunition and is equipped with unknockable fixed sights. This new offering from Heritage is available with the classic 2-inch barrel but will also be available with a 3-inch barrel for better recoil control. Both will be available at a competitive MSRP of only $363.99.

The post I’m With Roscoe: The New Heritage Roscoe Revolver appeared first on The Mag Life.

The Taurus 692 is an all-stainless steel medium-frame revolver. It is chambered for seven rounds of .357 Magnum and comes with a replaceable front sight and an adjustable rear. It also features a conventional wide-spurred hammer so the revolver can be cocked for a lighter single-action trigger pull, or fired from the hammer-down position for a heavier double-action pull. The one unique feature of the 692 is that it comes with an interchangeable cylinder/yoke assembly. With the press of a spring-loaded detent button on the right side, the cylinder, crane, and yoke come out of the revolver, and another assembly with a 9mm Luger cylinder is installed without the need for tools or gunsmithing. This allows you to shoot the potent .357 Magnum round, milder .38 Special loads, or more affordable 9mm ammo. In addition, you can skip speedloaders and speed strips as the 9mm cylinder is cut for moon clips.

The new Taurus 692 Executive Grade comes with the standard features consummate of the Executive Grade line. It comes with a hand-brushed stainless finish and presentation-style walnut grips. The grips have a hand-filling square butt and are relieved for the use of speedloaders. The front sight is a traditional yet visible removable gold beaded post, but the 3-inch barrel is ported for the best possible recoil control, especially when firing Magnum rounds. Finally, like the other revolvers in the Executive Grade lineup, the Model 692 Executive Grade features a tuned and stoned action for an effortless trigger pull that would take hundreds of rounds of range time to achieve on a stock revolver.

This new revolver in Taurus’s promising Executive Grade lineup is now available and has an MSRP of $1,106.99.

The post The New Taurus 692 Executive Grade appeared first on The Mag Life.

However, Delta V has introduced its Gen-2 3MR trigger for the AR-15 platform, which it boasts as the only advanced assisted-reset trigger technology on the market today that is expressly approved by the ATF and is non-NFA classifiable. It can deliver both speed and accuracy courtesy of its three-mode selector system and precision-engineered assisted reset design.

Upgraded from the original 3MR trigger system, the Gen-2 3MR features an improved disconnector engagement surface geometry that promises smoother, more precise, and quicker sear engagement transfer during reset and in the shortest distance possible.

The Delta V Gen-2 3MR is a unitized, drop-in trigger system that be easily installed into standard AR-15 and AR-10 receivers that utilize a Mil-Spec-style fire control group with the small 0.154-inch trigger and hammer pins. The system further includes a proprietary ambidextrous selector that regulates the trigger’s three operational modes: safe, semi-auto, and the Delta V patented and enhanced 3rd Mode.

In the standard semi-auto mode, the Gen-2 3MR presents single-stage operation with zero take-up and minimal sear travel for a clean, crisp, and efficient break that is meant to minimize shooter-induced shot disturbance and enhances accurate point-of-aim, point-of-impact performance. In its “3rd Mode,” the Gen-2 3MR uses its positive reset function, which transfers energy from the bolt carrier through the trigger assembly to quickly and precisely engage the trigger with the hammer sear. The slightest forward movement of the trigger finger establishes the reset, making the trigger ready for the next shot.

Delta V’s Gen-2 3MR also allows shooters to fine-tune the trigger’s positive reset characteristic to achieve maximum reset speed with minimum forward trigger travel. This can be done by simply adjusting tension in the spring and plunger assembly in the back of the hammer, which interacts with the Gen-2 3MR’s exclusive reset assist arm.

Delta V Gen-2 3MR AR Trigger Features

• Drop-in installation for AR-15 and AR-10 lower receivers
• Precision tunable positive reset adjustment
• Match-grade single-stage performance with a 4.5-pound trigger pull rate to satisfy defense agency requirements
• Zero initial take-up
• Imperceptible overtravel
• Nickel Teflon-coated components for durability and lubricity
• 3-mode billet selector with four selector levers of varying length and thickness
• Made in the USA

The Gen-2 3MR was designed for modern AR competitors, enthusiasts, and defense professionals. It is available now for $349.00 (MSRP).

The post Delta V Delivers ATF-Approved Gen-2 3MR Trigger appeared first on The Mag Life.