#Reviews

Thankfully, suppressor use and ownership have become more and more common in recent years. As shooters become more aware of the passive dangers involved with shooting, like lead poisoning and hearing loss, steps are being taken to reduce health hazards. Suppressors are probably the most effective tool we have against hearing loss. If you didn’t hear that last sentence, it might be time to pick one up! However, silencers (or suppressors, use whichever you want, nobody cares) have some drawbacks. The primary problem is that they get very hot. This means mirage during precision shooting. It also means some very hot pants during rifle-to-pistol transitions. MODTAC, a company local to me in Colorado, makes rigid suppressor shields to mitigate both of these issues. They have a few models but today we’re looking at the MODTAC U-RAC.

Reactive targets are a great way to spice up any firearms training session. Not only is it great fun but the instant results you get back from the target are a great way to hone your skills by providing you with quick feedback about your accuracy. Steel targets are undisputedly the most common and popular option for reactive targets and are used in virtually every shooting discipline to provide trainees, competitors, or those just having fun, with a fun visual and audible experience that can make shooting paper targets seem boring in comparison. However, steel targets are not without their drawbacks. For one, they are quite expensive, second, they’re super heavy and often require specialized rigging equipment to get set up further increasing the cost. Finally, steel targets even when set up correctly can still throw spall and ricochets back at you or those nearby causing injury. This is where the reactive targets from THROOM shine. THROOM is in the business of making high-quality polymer targets that are a safer and more affordable alternative to steel targets. THROOM Targets recently sent me some of their target kits to review so today I’ll take you through the process of what it’s like to set them up, and how they’ve held up over the last handful of months.

The Ruger LC Carbine was announced near the end of August to much excitement here on TFB. Not only had I been eagerly anticipating trying the rifle out for myself, but the rest of you also had a pretty massive discussion surrounding the new firearm in the comments of the article announcing the release. Today we’re going to take a closer look at the new Ruger LC Carbine to test out its accuracy, and reliability, and also take a closer look at the guts of the firearm since that was one of the most requested questions I received upon revealing the carbine.

Beretta, the legendary Italian gunmaker, recently imported a large number of surplus Model 84BB .380 ACP pistols. They had served the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s rough equivalent to a DEA/CBP/IRS agency, for many years. Are these worth the money, or just a neat novelty?

The SIG Sauer P365 was a game-changer. The success of the pistol forced so many other manufacturers to catch up. There’s no wonder the aftermarket for these wonder-pistols has exploded, especially with the introduction of the P365 FCU. Strike Industries, a company loved by those who appreciate their push for innovation, has entered that aftermarket. SI has introduced their Strike Slide, this time for the SIG Sauer P365. 

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report. This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its various firearms, ammunition, shooting sports, and trends! A few weeks back SIG Sauer dropped the new SIG P322 22LR semi-automatic rimfire pistol. This new release was understandably met with a mix of excitement, apprehension, joy, and skepticism. Although everyone loves to see new rimfire firearms make it to the market, a lot of people know that the semi-auto rimfire pistol game is one that is both extremely competitive and often mixed with overhyped expectations and underdelivered results. However, today I hope to bring all of you fellow rimfire junkies out there a smidgen of hope for the future in regards to semi-auto rimfire pistols with this review. I received a copy of the SIG P322 a short time after the initial SIG P322 media event that was hosted in Orlando, Florida and attended by TFBTV’s Hop and myself. Since then I have been rapidly and meticulously attempting to break my P322 to see how much torture, neglect, and abuse it could deal with before breaking or causing consistent malfunctions. So today we’ll be taking a look at its general characteristics and performance, as well as how it’s holding up so far.

The Springfield Armory Hellion made a huge splash when it was introduced. Bullpup fans and obscure gun nerds have been clamoring for an imported VHS-2 for years, and it finally happened. But how does the Hellion perform? Is it more than just an interesting gun for collectors?

The folks at Shield Sights often don’t get the recognition they deserve. People forget to give credit where it’s due, me included. Shield Sights spend time and money developing what is now the standard footprint for slimline pistol red dots. The company is best known for these small optics, but those crazy Brits have something else up their sleeves. With the continued growth of competition-based shooting sports, especially among women, it made sense for Shield Sights to aim their next dot at that market. The Shield Sights RMSx competition red dot is designed specifically for competitive shooters, featuring an 80% larger window, as well as a few other features. However, it still shares that familiar footprint, meaning it can still be mounted on smaller carry guns.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its various guns, ammunition, gear, and sports! 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (.22WMR) is a very popular cartridge although maybe not quite as popular as its tiny little sibling the much-venerated .22LR. While .22WMR is great for things like extended range rimfire target shooting or varmint hunting, the cartridge has seen very little attention in the way of semi-automatic firearms outside of a few notable examples like the English-made Guncraft AR-15 or the Savage A22 Magnum rifles. A couple of weeks back Bear Creek Arsenal announced the introduction of their own offering to the field in the way of a complete .22WMR upper for the AR-15 platform. I was fortunate to receive a copy of it for testing and evaluation purposes and today on The Rimfire Report we’ll be running my copy of the BCA 22WMR upper through a series of tests to determine how well it performs as configured out of the box.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its various guns, gear, and optics! Right around the turn of the year, Maven Optics released a new set of riflescopes. One of these was the Maven CRS.1 3-12×40 SFP riflescope. For some serious centerfire shooters, this riflescope may seem a bit underwhelming but as a rimfire shooter, I saw it and instantly thought it might make a great companion for nearly any varmint hunting or shorter-range rimfire rifle. Today on The Rimfire Report we will take a look at this new optic to see if Maven has released a lemon or perhaps the best mid-range rimfire scope to date.

It’s universally agreed these days that eye and ear protection should always be worn when you’re out shooting. Whether you’re out hunting, competing at a match, or just out goofing around on the range, keeping your sensitive organs protected from unnecessary trauma is important if you want to keep listening to “ A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton on your way home from the range (don’t lie we all know you do it). Wireless earbuds have become extremely popular these days but often suffer from a couple of core drawbacks. A lot of wireless earbuds lack sufficient battery capacity to last you all day and others aren’t all that durable when it comes to hard range use. The new ISOtunes Sport CALIBER wireless Bluetooth earbuds aim to correct a few of those drawbacks and provide shooters with another option for convenient hearing protection both on and off the range. ISOtunes was generous enough to provide me with early access to these new earbuds for testing and evaluation and today we’ll take a look at the features, pros, and cons of these new earbuds to see if they’d be a right fit for you and the type of shooting that you do.

If someone tells me to grab a pistol for a day of hard use, chances are I’m going to grab something made of plastic. While all-steel guns have their benefits, low weight, high capacity, ultra customizable pistols have clearly taken over, and they’ve been king for a while. Contrary to what you read on the ‘Gram, there are still plenty of people carrying and using older designs on the daily, namely the 110-year old 1911. In fact, I personally know a gang officer in the heart of South Central Los Angeles who carries the classic banger. I’m not going to pretend that I think the 1911 is just as relevant as more modern options, but it has a few things going for it. In this article, we’ll be looking at the Springfield Armory 1911 Loaded Marine Corps Operator in God’s caliber, .45 ACP. 

The single stack 9mm market hasn’t completely gone to the wayside yet. Springfield Armory recently introduces new optics-ready versions of their XD-S MOD.2 pistols in an effort to meet the demands of modern concealed carriers. I was able to receive a copy of the Springfield XD-S MOD.2 OSP pistol in 9mm and in their 4-inch barrel configuration and with this review, I wanted to set out into a realm of handgun performance I hadn’t really spent all that much time with in the last couple of years. Why? Well with the introduction of modern micro-compact 9mm pistols, there really hasn’t been a need for me to pick up a compact single-stack 9mm in a long time but I had the feeling that many people still probably preferred their older single-stack 9mm pistols and might want to have carry-optics capabilities but keep largely the same gun.

Not long ago, iron sights were still the standard when it came to sighting systems on a rifle. In fact, I knew an instructor only three years ago who wouldn’t let us use red dots because they were “cheating”. Well, the future is now, old man. Red dot sights are the new standard. Optics like the Aimpoint T1 changed the industry. However, that sight retails for close to $700, which is more than some shooters spend on their entire rifle. As technology has improved, manufacturing red dots has become less expensive, and that savings has been passed onto the customer in the form of budget-friendly options. Today, we’re going to explore one of these options and see if it performs in a meaningful way. Well-known for their red handguards and constant push for innovation, this is the first electronic optic from Strike Industries. Welcome to the TFB review of the Strike Industries SIOPTO SCOUTER red dot.

AR pistols have become one of the most popular firearm trends in the United States over the last decade or so and I am not immune from the craze myself. While I fully understand the benefits, practicality, and reliability that a standard 16″ or 20″ AR rifle platform offers, there is just some enigmatic draw that AR pistols have that draws me into them. Palmetto State Armory recently sent me over one of their 10.5″ Battlelink AR pistols for testing and evaluation and aside from an LPVO and a sling, I kept the pistol as-is for the entirety of this review. Today we’ll see what PSA is offering with the Battlelink package, how well it came constructed, and how it performed on the range in a variety of tests.