It’s become quite difficult in the last couple of months to find in-stock firearms parts and sometimes even accessories. One company that I have noticed that has kept up with the high demand is Bear Creek Arsenal. Bear Creek makes everything from stripped firearms components all the way up to completed rifles for almost every AR caliber imaginable. Bear Creek sent me out one of their 16-inch 5.56 upper receivers to put it through some testing and evaluation so today we’ll look into how well this upper receiver did in a few “average joe” tests.

New for 2020 was an expansion of KRG Bravo stocks for rimfire rifles, including the CZ457 and the Ruger 10/22.   I previously set up my Tikka T1X in a KRG Bravo stock, and it has been superb in every way.  Therefore, I jumped at the opportunity to try out the new Bravo stock for the Ruger 10/22.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of  The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire world and its various firearms, ammunition, and trends. This week we have a review lined up from Italy with a recently acquired Beretta 21 A Bobcat Covert pistol. While the Beretta 21 A Bobcat has been around for quite some time, last year at SHOT Show 2020 was the first time I spotted the newly developed 21 A Bobcat Covert. The Covert is mostly the same pistol as the regular Bobcat but with the added feature of a 1/2-28 threaded 2.9″ barrel.

When the SiOnyx Aurora came out late 2018, Lucian of Romania started making some of the first accessories for the Aurora camera. Right away people saw a need to mount the Aurora camera to a helmet and use it like night vision goggles. His Hyperion bridge was a simple design. It was a fixed bridge and you had to tell him what your pupillary distance is so he could 3D print the Hyperion to match the spacing between your pupils. Well, he has since moved on and for a while now he has been making and successfully selling his MACHOS (Mission Adaptive Combat Helmet Optics System). It is a much better bridge design and it is modular for use with other devices, not just the SiOnyx Aurora.

AR-15 triggers have been one of Jard Inc.’s specialties, but they’ve claimed a first in the firearms industry by creating a Set Trigger for AR-15 rifles and pistols. For those not familiar with the concept or the term, a set trigger can be fired in two ways; using a more standard weight of trigger pull; or by “setting” the trigger forward, which takes considerably less weight off the trigger pull. Jard was kind enough to send an AR-15 Set Trigger to TFB to review. Let’s dig in.

Hello and welcome to a special review edition of  The Rimfire Report. This week we’re going to take a look at the recently released Taurus TX 22 Competition model. The TX 22 Competition is Taurus’s latest generation of the successful TX 22 that was released in 2019. Today we’ll go over my thoughts and observations on the TX 22 Competition that was sent out to me and see what this pistol does best for the average shooter.

Two years ago at SHOT Show 2019, we saw the Steiner CQT for the first time. At GunFest 2021, the Steiner Rep brought out the Steiner CQT. We were all excited to check it out and the Steiner Rep let me borrow it for a more in-depth review. So let’s dive in and take close look at the CQT.

Securing valuables and especially firearms is something I have not given much thought to. While I don’t leave firearms in my vehicle overnight, there are times I am driving to or from the range and have to stop to get food or gas. Or like back on Dec 27th, my FJ Cruiser was broken into at a local gun range. I was one of two victims who had items stolen from our vehicles. Luckily for me, the suspect did not steal any guns. So I have been looking for a security drawer for my FJ Cruiser so I can lock up valuable items. While there are a number of options, I went with a SnapSafe under bed safe for my FJ Cruiser.

Choosing the right bipod and having a perfect height set just before a stage is quite often the key to success in a competition. One bipod isn’t enough to do everything you’re likely to require from it over a few stages. Shooting practical rifle and precision rifle competitions (in my case mainly IPSC, PRS and hybrids between these) for more than 10 years has “given” me quite a collection of bipods. I have stayed away from the “cheap and risky” ones, but there are a few from B&T Industries, Magpul and Harris to chose from at home. Some I have modified to suit my needs better. I even have one set with what used to be ski poles that can be used to shoot standing.

Lasers make aiming easier with night vision however there is more to lasers than a fancy cat toy. Multi-Function Aiming Lasers (MFAL) have an illuminator. Most civilian rated MFALs have anemic illuminators for the sake of them being eye-safe. Only the MAWL-C1+ and DBAL-D2 have a decent enough illuminator to light up the darkness. But today we will take a look at the forbidden end of the spectrum with this full power laser showdown.

SBR’s and PSB stabilized AR Pistols are handy for sure.  Their shorter OAL makes them a great candidate for a lightweight and compact defensive firearm, especially as a suppressor host.  Short barrels chambered in 5.56 have one major…shortcoming. The velocity and resultant lethality loss due to the reduction of barrel length.  Hornady has some relatively new ammunition to remedy this shortcoming, however:  Hornady Black HD SBR 75gr.

I would never really have considered the Schmidt & Bender 1.5-8×40 STRATOS, but as I was reviewing the Pulsar Krypton FXG50 thermal front attachment I was in need of a rifle scope with low-to-medium magnification, at least 42 mm front objective lens (for the Pulsar adapters to fit) and a reticle suitable for hunting.

The Pulsar Helion 2 XP50 is Pulsar’s high-end thermal monocular. Over time we have reviewed most of Pulsar’s monoculars, from the entry-level Axion XM30S to the mid-level XQ38 and XQ38 LRFs. If you’re interested in high-quality thermal imaging and your budget isn’t strained, this is definitely one of the devices that should be on your list to consider.

Welcome to a guest-written edition of The Rimfire Report. This is Nicholas C. helping out Luke C. Today I will share with you a handy little device that fits in your pocket, range bag or ammo can – the FX Airguns Pocket Chronograph. It is like a pocket LabRadar.

For this week’s installment on Friday Night Lights, you get a two-for-one Dual Tube Spotlight. Just before flying out to New Orleans for TFB Gunfest, I met up with Alex Ko of Nocorium. He had a set of DTNVS and BNVD-1531 housings that he was patterning for his NVG wraps. I got a chance to take a look at them in detail.

First of all a big thanks to James Reeves for passing this along. TactaLoad is a firearms accessory manufacturer based in Louisiana. Their flagship product is the Flash-5 shotgun stock. It allows you to carry five extra shotgun shells in the stock.

Photographing or filming through your rifle scope is a bit of a challenge. You can try and freehand your camera or smartphone but with small eye boxes and eye relief of most scopes, this makes it very hard to capture a good image. It is almost like threading a needle that is 4-5 inches away. Nexus Outdoors has a camera mount that makes this much easier.

Last month I reviewed the Jerry-C ECOTI. Before that I reviewed the Safran Optics1 COTI. Well, during the week of the virtual SHOT SHOW, TNVC announced that they are now selling the Optics1 ECOTI to the public. Before that, it was restricted to law enforcement and military sales only. My friend Kevin had ordered the Optics1 ECOTI and so we got together to compare all the COTIs together.

Like the many other books that now proceed in the Vickers Guide library, Vickers Guide: SIG Sauer Vol. 1  succeeds in being both a feast for the eyes and the mind.  Leonardo Antaris and James Rupley’s sumptuous photography draws you in, and then you are hit with a wealth of facts and information from the cast of contributors.  Leonardo M. Antaris, MD, Ian McCollum, James Rupley and Larry Vickers do the majority of the text, but there are also cool contributions from Jack Carr, George Harris and others.

Almost two years ago I wrote about the PAS-29 COTI. It is a clip-on thermal imager that projects a thermal image into the objective lens of your night vision goggles. Well, now there is a newcomer to the market – the Jerry-C aka Chinese ECOTI. It is smaller and higher resolution than the PAS-29. Let’s take a look.

The Terrapin X Laser Range Finder (LRF) from Safran Vectronix of Switzerland has been on the market for a while, and they keep adding functions and supporting companies to their ecosystem. The Terrapin X is more than just a standard LRF – with a combination of sensors and connections it becomes a navigational, target spotting and presentation tool. As you range a target, the device measures not only the distance but also the elevation and compass direction. If you connect it to your Smartphone (iOS or Android) via Bluetooth, you can pinpoint the exact position of your targets with the help of the phone’s GPS module. The targets are named Target 1, 2 and so on, but you can rename them if you like, as they appear on the map.

The Springfield Armory Hellcat has been a supremely popular pistol ever since its introduction into the world less than 2 years ago – and for good reasons. It is the world’s highest capacity, micro-compact on the market for people who want a smaller gun for carry, but do not want to sacrifice their round-count to get there. While I, like many others, can speak glowingly about the Hellcat, it is not a perfect gun either. The one flaw many people cite is that its trigger is very average, if not sub-par, which is a common trend among polymer pistols. For that very reason, I was excited to hear Apex Tactical had introduced a replacement trigger for the Springfield Armory Hellcat with their Action Enhancement Trigger package. Today, we will review it here on TFB to see if it is worth its salt or if the factory trigger is not that bad after all. Let’s dive in!

The 509 series of FN America handguns has become rather popular especially the tactical versions. Fans of the FNX-45 tactical have been clamoring for a 9mm version of their flagship handgun and the 509 Tactical delivered. Last November FN hosted a media event to unveil their new 509 pistol – the 509 LS Edge.

If you remember, one of the items on my ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS post was a SKEETIRX. Well Christmas came early thanks to my friend Earl. He lent me an old BAE Systems SKEETIRX and it definitely works as advertised. Let’s take a closer look at this tiny thermal monocular that packs a punch in resolution and detection.

Having the proper gear at the range can be the difference between having an enjoyable day out and cutting the day short because you’re so miserable. One thing that has always proved important at the range is high-quality boots. A few months ago I did my write up on the Johnny Combat range boots from Viktos and said they were quality for the money. This past month I picked up the New Salomon Forces Sua Sponte Mark III boots from US Elite Gear as my new range boots. Let’s take a look at how these boots are for regular range use.

Since buying entire guns has gone out of style for the time being most of us have had to find new ways to keep ourselves occupied in our favorite hobby. I’ve been recently taking a bit of time to try new accessories and upgrades on a few of my AR-15 pistols as well as some of my pistol caliber carbines that I use for competitions and Tyrant Designs has been a huge help in this endeavor. Tyrant Designs was kind enough to send me out their new Concept One pistol grip and MOD v2 ForeGrip for testing and review and today I’ll be sharing my results on how these grip upgrades worked out on two of my rigs.

In the world of weapon lights, there are some pretty big names from SureFire to Streamlight. They both offer some great options for both pistol and rifle lights. I am a big fan of both the SureFire X300 line of weapon lights or Streamlight’s TLR-1 HL offerings. Inforce broke into the weapon-mounted light market a few years ago and offered a variety of models like the APL and APLc. The previous generation of Inforce lights was made out of polymer to keep the weapon light down on weight. It was a great option for people who wanted to keep the weight down on their guns while having a decently bright weapon light. Things have changed with the new Wild2 weapon light as this light has an aluminum housing. Let’s dive more into the new Inforce Wild2 weapon light.

This week on Friday Night Lights we have another installment of Dual Tube Spotlight. Today we will take a look at a particular binocular housing that has a small foothold in the night vision market. Night Vision Devices makes Binocular Night Vision Devices (BNVDs) and we will focus on the BNVD-SG.

Griffin Armament came out with a new pistol suppressor piston that they call CAM-LOK. This is a piston for tilt-lock barrels. The CAM-LOK system converts your suppressor into a sort of 3-lug style design. I bought a CAM-LOK piston for my SilencerCo Osprey45 and three CAM-LOK barrel adapters for three different calibers. Why hasn’t anyone done this before? It’s awesome!