#Handgun

The Desert Eagle XIX handgun is one of the more peculiar handguns of the late twentieth century for a variety of reasons. Most handguns introduced in the civilian and military markets are earmarked for a specific purpose, whether that be a polymer reliable Glock or a safer revolver such as the Ruger transfer bar. They’re intend to fill a void, be better than the competition, or meet a certain performance expectation. Then we have the Desert Eagle’s introduction. The large-bore handgun is advertised as a quasi-everything, depending on the market it’s going for. At once, it is a big-bore hunting handgun and novelty item; there are rumors about Special Operations use, it doubles as a target or silhouette shooting piece, it’s an experiment, and later on it gains a healthy following in movies and video games. But from a truly practical shooting perspective, it’s quite hard to justify using it in the first place. It’s too heavy, more expensive than traditional big -bore hunting revolvers, has a complicated gas-operated system, and it’s one of the only handguns to be chambered in its most popular caliber. And yet to this day, its presence is undeniable. Magnum Research is going strong, new models and configurations are coming out every year.

The quest for a .22 LR conversion kit began when I took my Kimber commemorative Custom II to the cleaners. I had ordered a Caspian frame, along with some Ed Brown and Wilson parts, and thus was left over with the original frame. All the internals had been transferred over to the new pistol. The idea for getting a conversion kit was for two reasons. I introduce alot of people to shooting and wanted a .22 handgun so they could work on the fundamentals more. And the backwords compatibility of still having a full size 1911 being able to work in all my existing holsters, use the same procedures and techniques as with the .45 ACP versions.

Cutaway firearms are a weakness of mine, so I can’t help but share Chuck’s cutaway of a CZ 75 handgun. The CZ 75 is my favorite of the older metal-framed Wondernines, and I have fond memories of shooting an example that I used to own previously.

A congressman by the name of Mike Rogers representing Alabama is proposing a plan to take almost 100,000 1911A1s currently in storage with the U.S. Army and transfer them over to the CMP South Store in Anniston, Alabama. If this move works, it’ll be an amazing moment for 1911 collectors across the country as more will come into the market at much better prices than they are currently at. However, they most likely won’t be in their original wartime condition as the CMP will refurbish, replace parts, and bring to working order the pistols that have been in storage for so long (probably since the 1980s as the M9 was phased in). Regardless, the market price for Garands today is in the $800-1200 range and CMP sells their basic Garands for about $500. Taking a quick look at Gunbroker, prices for World War Two era 1911A1s start at $600 and go into the thousands. Even if CMP Anniston sells them for $100 below the minimal market price at $500 out the door, it’s stilly a pretty great deal. In addition, (someone correct me if I’m wrong about this) but the last military contract 1911A1 rolled off the Ithaca assembly line in 1945 ( serial number 2660318 ). That means every legitimate military contract 1911A1 in storage was either made before or during World War Two. Unlike the Garands sold by CMP, which have productions runs from during and after the war, making some of the post war rifles less valued.

Tim of the Military Arms Channel recently took a trip to Beretta USA’s Accokeek Maryland facility. Beretta is the oldest major firearms manufacturer in the world with over 500 years experience making guns, but has only had a presence in the United States for 35 years. The Accokeek facility was set up to support production of the US military’s M9 service pistol, based on the Beretta 92 handgun. The video overview of MAC’s tour is embedded below:

Wilson Combat has announced a new full-size carry 1911 handgun, the “Tactical Carry”. The handgun comes loaded with luxury features like glare-reducing serrations, checkering, inverse angled crown, and high visibility sights. From the press release:

Heckler and Koch have announced a compact variant of their excellent P30 series of hammer-fired polymer framed handguns. From the press release:

Toele Shooting Supply, LLC, writes on their Facebook page:

It’s not so unusual to hear of sub-MOA accuracy or better from a well-tuned rifle. Bringing the accuracy of a rifle below half-MOA, though, is a challenge to the gunsmith and shooter alike, and every increment below that is an increasingly difficult challenge. Sub-1/3 MOA from a rifle is definitely an achievement for the gunsmith, shooter, and handloader each.

Massad Ayoob has taken a look at the Glock 43, over at Glock headquarters in Smyrna, Georgia:

Last week, we looked at a .45 caliber rotary-barrel BSA recoil operated handgun design, available for auction at James D. Julia. Interestingly, in the same auction are two other rotary-barrel prototypes, these two from Germany. The first is the Nickl prototype by Mauser, which led to the Czech Vz. 24 handgun, and the second is a Walther prototype Volkspistole. Ian of Forgotten Weapons has produced video overviews of both weapons as part of his coverage of the auction:

Beretta has introduced its first striker-fired pistol, the APX. From the press release (emphasis mine):

After the U.S. Army’s rejection of the initial M9A3 proposal, Beretta is trying again with a new Engineering Change Proposal. American Rifleman’s Mark O’Keefe reports:

William Smalley of Remington (and formerly of Para Ord) has been working on the R51 since its inception. I spoke with him about the R51’s troubles, and its planned return to production in early Summer this year. William is a “gun guy”, not a marketing associate or a booth runner; when a friend and I were looking at the interaction of the grip safety and the trigger, William field stripped the gun right in front of us and let us see how the mechanism worked.

SIG continues to eye the top spot of pistol manufacturers in the US in releasing new additions to its P320 line: