The Firearm Blog

Taurus has merged their best features from the 800, 24/7 and OSS lines into the new Taurus G2 24/7 pistol. The polymer framed double action autoloader will be available in .45 ACP, .40 S&W and 9mm (judging by Taurus's 2010 catalog, we may not see the 9mm version for a while yet).

Compact (top), long slide (bottom)

The standard model will feature a 4.2" barrel and be available in black or two-ton finish. The .45 model will hold 10+1 round and the .40 will hold 13+1.

The compact model has a 3.2" barrel and holds 6+1 (.45) or 9+1 (.40).

The long slide model features a 5" barrel! Capacity is the same as the standard model.

No word on pricing.

Taurus's Judge revolvers have proved to be incredibly popular. Not resting on their laurels, Taurus has introduced the gigantic Raging Judge Magnum. In additional to the standard Judge cartridges, the .410 shotshell (2.5"/3") and .45 Colt, the Raging Judge can chamber the .454 Casull! Outside of Africa there is probably nothing that cannot be taken down with a Raging Judge Magnum.

Kristin Hunt and the Judge

Raging Judge Magnum (6" barrel)

The handgun will be available with either a 3" or 6" barrel and in either a stainless or blued finish. The 6" version includes a vent-rib for use with a scope mount.

3" barrel model

Like the Taurus Raging Bull line, the gun is big and it is heavy. The advantage that the Judge has over similar .454 chambered guns is its ability to chamber shot shells. A hunter or fisherman can load a shotshell in the first chamber for snakes and .454 in subsequent chambers to defend against bears. The cylinder holds six rounds.

The November issue of Shooting Illustrated published a letter from a reader who suggested Taurus make a carbine version of their Judge revolver and name it the "Supreme Court Judge". Gary from Oklahoma has had his wish come true. The new Taurus Circuit Judge is a revolver carbine that can chamber .410 shotshells (2.5" and 3") and .45 Long Colt.

The design is very similar to the Russian KBP MTs 225 revolver shotgun. The Circuit has a very attractive Monte Carlo stock (I guess a synthetic stock will be introduced at a later date). A cylinder guard on the left side of the gun prevents gas and flames from scorching your arm.

The Circut Judge will be avalible with either a rifled barrel or a smoothbore barrel. The smoothbore version will only be able to fire .410 rounds.

I really look forward to shooting the new Judge. It looks nice, feels nice and I am sure is a lot of fun to shoot.

Two years after burying his Glock 21, this guy digs it up, washes it off with water and, without any lube, fires 500 rounds of .45 ACP through it. Not bad.

[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ]

OK ... words fail me.

Over the past 6 months I have been following the Marines sly procurement of M45 1911 pistols (formally MEU(SOC) pistol) in small parts. The Marines have just procured 150,000 rounds of Federal Premium Gold Medal .45 Auto 185GR FMJ-SWC Match Ammunition.

The procurement is notable because the rounds are not loaded with classic 230 gr hardball bullets, but the lighter and faster 185 grain FMJ-SWC bullets.

[ Many thanks to Matt for emailing me the info. ]

UPDATE: Daniel pointed out that the purchase was for the USMC Competition-In-Arms Program and that the solicitation appears to have been canceled.

The entire TDI KRISS line is going to be available in .40 S&W later this year. Additionally, lower receivers will be sold so that a .45 model can be converted to .40 S&W. Like the .45 version, it also uses Glock magazines.

The photo below of the prototype .40 S&W submachine gun model. I had to promise them I would make is clear it is a prototype and that the finish on the lower is rough and not what will be seen on the production version.

Auto-Ordnance / Khar had a beautiful gold plated and engraved Thompson gun on display at SHOT.

The lovely Jodie with the Gold Thompson

Magnum Research is manufacturing a 1911 which will go on sale next year! Two sized model will be on offer.

Magnum Research has entered the 1911 segment of the handgun market with its first two offerings, a full-size (5.055” barrel) and semi-compact (4.33” barrel) Desert Eagle® 1911 pistol. Both models feature enhanced beavertail safety, skeletonized trigger and hammer, crisp trigger, extended safety lever, beveled magazine well, tightly tolerance frame and slide for enhanced accuracy.

I believe that these pistols will be manufactured in the United States, not imported from Israel.

[ Many thanks to the reader who for emailed me the info. ]

UPDATE: The pistols are manufacutred by BUL, Israel. Thanks to Spyros for the info.

Designed to be as inexpensive as possible, assembled from mostly stamped sheet-metal parts, the Liberator was a single shot pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge the US military was using for standard handguns and submachine guns. It was so cheap that each one set the US government back only $2.40 in 1942 money. A million were made in less than three months during the darkest days of WWII, to be airdropped to Resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory.

Read about it at Hell in a Handbasket.

Talo is selling a special edition Colt 1911 named the Colt Ghost Commander. It is a limited edition with just 400 being manufactured.

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by David. David blogs at True Blue Sam the Travelin' man. ]

There is nothing unusual going on at Bea's loading bench, except this 78 year old grandmother has been a handgunner for just over a year, and now she is loading her own .45 ammo! Her journey as a shooter has been rather remarkable, but she has always had lots of pioneer moxie, and she is still an active person who wants to be able to defend herself and her home.

Dwain, Bea's husband, passed away in 2005, and owned several guns. One was his 'house gun,' a Smith and Wesson Model 36 snubbie. She realized that the little .38 would be difficult for her to master, so she had one of her sons help her pick out a new pistol for her to build her shooting skills. Her first purchase was a Walther P-22, and on her 77th birthday she went to the local range for the first time. The little Walther was easy for her to handle and to shoot; the only problem she had was stripping and reassembling after her range trips. As long as it was fed plated .22's, this gun never failed to function. Bea was now a handgunner, and a pretty good shot, too. Check out the target with thirty offhand shots at thirty feet with her little auto.

P-22 target with thirty shots at thirty feet.

Bea next learned to handle revolvers by starting with her son's Ruger Single-Six, and she found that she could shoot it more accurately than she could with the little Walther. She got lucky and found a used Single-Six in excellent condition at her local Scheel's store, and soon she was shooting the revolver more than the auto. Her son then introduced her to centerfire with a Ruger Blackhawk, and she found that shooting .38's was easy for her. She looked at the options with Ruger Blackhawks, and when the Scheel's store got a .45 convertible, she bought it. The big slow bullets are easy for her to handle, even though she weighs less than 110. At the range she will shoot several cylinders through the Single-Six, and then one or two through the Blackhawk, then switch back to the .22. Careful practice has kept her from developing flinch problems.

Bea buying her Blackhawk

Shooting the Blackhawk for the first time.

Her son has been reloading for many years, and he set her up to reload for her .45. A surprise benefit of the convertible Blackhawk is the free once fired brass other shooters leave behind at the range. Every range trip begins with policing for new brass before setting up to shoot.

Bea at loading bench

In September Engineering Johnson, her grandson, took her along to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and she was thrilled to meet Mr. Completely, KeeWee, and the other bloggers she has been reading. She says it was the most fun she has ever had. Mr. C even let her shoot his long barrelled High Standard, and Bea had some respectable times hitting the steel plates on the second range day. She is planning to go again next year.

Bea with her .45 at the GBR Show and Tell

From left: Engineering Johnson, Bea and Mr. Completely

She has several range friends in her hometown, and she is spreading the joy of shooting by teaching the basics of gun safety and pistols with new shooters. One of her new found friends is a nine year old boy who is regularly beating his dad at hitting the bullseye with her Single-Six.

Bea would like for more women to realize that they do not have to be defenseless, and that even a small framed womam can shoot a gun that is powerful enough to stop an attacker. Thank you for setting such a great example for all of us, Bea.

Gun bloggers KeeWee and Molly with Bea.

[ GBR photos were taken by The Packing Rat ]

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by Matt Green ]

This Ruger .45 my Dad left me is one of the first weapons I ever fired.

My grandparents had a farm in central Minnesota, near St. Cloud, and we would drive the two hours to visit every month or six weeks or so. Nearby was an old iron bridge, crosshatched with braces, bedded with wood that beginning to rot as the bridge neared the end of its first century of usefulness. The newer highway bridge went over the slow moving creek a couple of hundred yards upstream, so the metal bridge on the dirt road was relegated to cars and small trucks. It was too small for any modern farm machinery to pass across it.

But it was a great place to learn how to shoot. Dad would bring out his Ruger Mk1 .22 and this Blackhawk, and my three brothers and I would take turns shooting pop cans and empty ammo boxes floating in the river, tossed in on the upstream side of the bridge. Dad would occasionally take a turn with the .22, but he mainly used his .45, usually stoked with ACP ammo, since it was less expensive than Long Colt. It was also a way for him to see if we’d been fooling with his pistols in his absence, as he caught my younger brother once when he hadn’t put the ACP cylinder back in. Dad loaded a .45 ACP round, and it dropped deep into the LC cylinder. One look at the bunch of us, and he knew which brother was guilty.

When we exhausted the .22 ammo, we’d each get a cylinder full of .45 to shoot, or most of one, since five rounds each made the box come out even. It was harder to shoot well than the .22, and much louder (I don’t remember that we bothered with ear protection back then), but it was very satisfying to shoot it well and have Dad comment as much.

I miss him, and think of him whenever I shoot the old Ruger, or really, whenever I handle firearms in general. The interest I have in firearms now was sparked long ago by shooting with him.

Sig Sauer is now producing an "R" model of their .45 ACP chambered SIG P220 Compact pistol. The P220R Compact does away with the beaver tail, reducing the frame length by 0.5", and adds an accessory rail.

SIG P220R Compact (Two Tone model).

SIG lists two models, a blued model and two-tone model, although no price is given for the two-tone which I suspect means it is not yet able to be purchased.