Last week, TFB published the “March Gatness” tournament – a readers’ choice bracket tournament to determine which rifle, revolver, and handgun was the best of the best (or at least the readers’ favorite). The winners will be featured in a TFBTV video.

To vote, go to http://gat.life

We are in now in Round 2 for Auto Pistol and Rifle, and the Revolver tournament just entered the semi-finals today. Some observations from the first rounds:

Auto-Pistols:

Over 11,000 votes were placed in the first round of the Automatic Pistol Tournament.

• The Glock 19 made a statement in the first round, getting almost five times as many votes as the Springfield XD (Glock = 1186; XD = 241). It now faces a German Luger that barely beat the Ruger Mark series by 50 votes.
• While the Glock 19 and Springfield XD matchup was the most one-sided, the tightest match was the (surprising) defeat of the Colt Series 70/80 1911 by the Wilson Combat Classic: 719 to 689 – decided by 30 votes (although 45 votes would have been more poetic). Y’all fancy. The Wilson faces a popular S&W M&P Compact 2.0, which doubled the votes of its daddy, the S&W 59/69 Series, in Round One.
• The SIG P226 got twice the votes of the H&K USP, and faces the CZ75 in Round Two. The CZ beat the Beretta M9 by 866 (CZ) to 551 (Beretta). I anticipate the 226 will throttle the CZ and advance to the semis.
• The Browning Hi-Power racked up 1136 against a helpless Walther PPK. Mr. Bond’s blaster of choice netted only 263 votes. The only First Round match more one-sided was the Glock 19 versus the XD.
• The Makarov beat its central Euro comrade, the Arex Rex Zero-1, and now faces the Hi-Power in Round Two.

To go straight to Round 2 of the Auto Tournament, click here: https://www.polltab.com/bracket-poll/BkRpZw6YM

Rifles:

Over 8,000 votes were cast to decide the first rifle round.

• In the biggest deficit of all of March Gatness, the M1 Garand slaughtered the Mosin-Nagant with 11 times as many votes. (453 to 41). The Garand now faces the M1A, which almost tripled the vote count of the Ruger Mini-14 that it faced in Round One.
• On the other hand, the narrowest margin of victory was in the old-ass guns division, where the STG44 beat the Tommy gun by a narrow 3 vote margin (247-244). It now faces the M3 Grease Gun, which survived the Swiss K31 by 100 votes.
• Out of 4 H&K guns in the first round, only the MP5 survived to Round Two. While the H&K MP7 lost handily to the FN P90, the MP5 got more than three times the amount of votes as the SIG MPX. It advances to face the FN P90 in the second round.
• The lowly Remington 700 beat the H&K PSG-1 by 100 votes in the first round and faces an epic battle against the Barrett 82A1 in Round Two. Who will prevail? The everyman’s hunting/tactical bolt gun or the hi-speed, low-drag .50 cal semiauto beast?
• Both the Bulgarian and Russian 7.62×39 AKs (Arsenal SAM7 and Saiga SGL21) barely edged out their 5.45×39 “AK74-type” brethren. The SAM7 and SGL21 are presently in a dead heat in Round 2.
• In the AR15/M16 section, the Colt M4 beat out the M16 and Knight’s SR15 beat BCM’s Recce. The KAC and the M4 face each other in Round Two.
• The FN SCAR edged out the Steyr AUG and advances to face the SIG 550 series, which surprisingly upset the UZI family in Round One.
• Belgium wins again as the mighty FAL steamrolled the H&K 91/G3 with over twice as many votes (348 to 150).
• The Galil ACE edged out the X95 and proceeds as IWI’s chosen champion to Round Two, where it presently trails the FAL, which was technically its grandaddy-predecessor-in-battle as the choice of the Israeli Military in the 60s before the Galil replaced the FAL. Rematch time?

To go straight to Round 2 of the Rifle Tournament, click here: https://www.polltab.com/bracket-poll/S1J6ecatM

Revolvers:

• The Colt SAA has steamrolled its way into the semi-finals, destroying the Ruger Blackhawk and shocking the S&W 500. It now faces the venerable S&W 586/686 in the semis.
• FIVE of the initial sixteen revolvers in the tournament were Rugers. NOT ONE RUGER SURVIVED ROUND ONE. 
• The Colt Python trounced the S&W 637/642 and the Korth Mongoose. It faces the S&W 66 in the semis.

To go straight to Round 3 of the Revolver Tournament, click here: https://www.polltab.com/bracket-poll/Syq-eoAYf