IWI Precision Gas Gun Challenge: After the First Match

By

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May 18, 2022

Previously we posted an overview of the upcoming gas gun series sponsored by IWI located in Gap, PA. Now that the Pro/Am (Professional/Amateur) is completed we can talk about how the match went and what to expect for the rest of the season.

East Coast Precision Gas Gun Series Options: The IWI Gas Gun Challenge 2022

Overview

The 2022 sold out Pro/Am was a great experience for new shooters and old. The range was easy to locate and shooters were well informed on any logistical information due to the Match Director Minutes put out (mdm). These are basically a 4 minute long video about information needed for the next matches and whole series. (latest MDM posted at the bottom of the article).

As far as match flow and efficiency, the match went quick and we weren’t standing around very long before shooting our next stage. This was a Pro/Am so the fact that it still did move smoothly even with Pros helping Amateurs was great. Only two target failures the whole day.

There was another bay for shooters to go zero or check equipment if they had failures during the match and the Match Director was very proactive in helping them out and being on the line if any issues came up. Jeremy Gresham from IWI was also there helping run the match and will be there for every match in the future, a proactively involved sponsor is the best sponsor. This was so cool to see! When you see a title sponsor they often aren’t so involved beyond their logo and products, IWI showed how much they cared about this sport and the series.

Worth it to note, the organization bought about 20 pizzas around the end of the match for shooters. Thank you!!

The match ran with PRS/NRL style scoring. 1 point per shot, “Hit or miss move on” on most stages, and with a 90 second par time. The only stage that mattered for time was the tie breaker. 12-15 round stages, class dependent and the furthest engagement was around 800. If you know how to shoot both prone and off barricades and know the data on your gun you will fare well in this series. The trick is just to remember target order and don’t make any logistical issues.

Three trophies were handed out per class including the top Pro and top Am. The dudes who took them home were exactly who should have. Good shooters who have placed well in other precision matches.

Probably the coolest thing of the whole match though was the after match survey. When a series takes the time to make and send out a survey and implement the changes that shooters brought up that is the place and series to shoot.

What is Next?

Now are the matches that will count for score. There are 6 total matches with your top 3 match placements going to your overall score after the finale. Those will decide the final standings. Remember that you need to R/O just one match to get those scores to count. Always give back to the sport.

With the Pro/Am having double the turn out as the series did last year it is looking like a large Match #1. Matches open for registration one month before the match. However, if you buy a series membership it will give you a permanent spot to each match no matter if it’s full or not. It is also cheaper than paying for each match individually. Click HERE to sign up

Applying for the membership on practiscore will ensure you a spot into the matches of your choice.

Match #1 Information

The official first match of the season will be held on May 28th and is only $30 to sign up. R/O sign up is also listed if you’d like to R/O. Remember, IWI Gas Gun Series is special in the fact that they incorporate pistol in the match. For the 1st match it was put out that the round count will be 110 for rifle (bring more just in case, that is a perfect run round count) and 50 for pistol. The pistol will be on a table to grab from so holsters will not be needed. Bring at least two magazines and there are no restrictions on the pistol.

Look them up on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube for any questions for to watch for more information. Happy shooting!

We will always need heros…

By

Keith Finch

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May 17, 2022

Dr. John Cheng and retired officer Aaron Salter Jr. are the type of people we desperately need in this world. We can never have enough folks willing and able to act decisively, those who will risk their lives and in some instances lose them to stop an unfolding tragedy, accident, or act of evil.

Dr. Cheng was killed in California stopping a massacre in his church and Aaron Salter Jr. was killed in a gunfight with the Buffalo shooter. Salter drew on the killer opened fired, disrupting even for a short time the unopposed attack. The killer was armored though, and returned fire. He killed Aaron Salter Jr. We do not know what those precious seconds saved as far as lives in that market, but I bet they were substantial given the motivation of the killer. Even if we could prove Salter’s intervention actually didn’t get anyone out of the line of fire, and I do not for a moment believe it didn’t save people, his willingness to disrupt the attack, his willingness to try without a guarantee of success, and his willingness to be injured and die taking that chance shows heroic character traits.

In a moment of absolute immediate life ending crisis he acted to stop that tide of death and lost his life too, but he made the attempt knowing the risks. I absolutely believe he saved lives, seconds of disruption against the shooter saved lives.

Dr. Cheng wasn’t armed but threw himself into the attacker of his church in Laguna Woods. He was shot and mortally wounded but his disruption of the attacker saved everyone else. The attack there appears to be a Chinese on Taiwanese hate crime. The attack in New York was a white on black hate crime, a radicalized angry kid who believed a particular brand of the bullshit that justified his anger to him.

Evil exists. Heroes stand in its way regardless of outcome.

On the “Modified” Buffalo Shooter’s Rifle

By

Keith Finch

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May 17, 2022

Screen Shot 2022-05-17 at 12.36.26 PM — Zhang Jie/Xinhua News Agency/Newscom via Reason

Quick summary, folks.

In Buffalo, New York, a racist commie shithead took an AR-15 and killed 10 people in a predominantly black neighborhood market. The internet is now in typical full meltdown mode trying to pick whether he was on politco red team or politco blue team, and also whether or not guns caused it all. Headlines this morning are asking, “How many more mass murders will use this assault rifle?” provide context to reasoned and well informed this conversation is going.

Because if we didn’t have enough of a political firestorm over the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court opinion leak we simply needed to add the other hot button political item into the social fires too.

There was also an attack in California at a church I will be referencing but it appears that, while racially motivated (Chinese on Taiwanese), a doctor in the congregation saved the lives of everyone else by delaying the assailant. He was the only casualty as far as I am aware, the congregation was able to hogtie the shooter thanks to his quick actions.

There, you are caught up.

Media Commentary

A rifle that could be seen as “compliant” displayed in the Sandy Hook lawsuit. It is only annoyingly less functional than “assault weapons”

The media is going hard on this since they can absolutely shamelessly play on the fact Payton Gendron was a racist pile of shit (ala Dylann Roof style). The California attack will get less play since the puddle like depth of American socio-economic world consciousness would short circuit trying to realize why different groups of Asians hate each other.

If I recall correctly, the alleged New York shooter attributed manifesto mentions Roof. I could point something out about New York and California gun laws… but I’ll leave that as the passive aggressive reminder it can simply be.

What is breaking my mind, body, and soul is the deep dive from every ignorant journalist who wants some of those juicy hate clicks on this issue. Typing and talking about Gendron’s “Arsenal” and how he “Modified” his rifle to be more lethal…

This kid bought a basic Bushmaster AR-15 (sorry about your luck, again, Bushmaster) and a Mossberg 500 pump shotgun, and he had a Savage Axis hunting rifle from a couple years ago. Oh, and a sling and some ammunition.

He had the three most basic guns of firearm ownership he could legally buy from a store. Which he did, passed the background checks. Clearly those red flag laws working a-ok since Gendron was another “known” individual too, apparently.

The “arsenal” consisted of a basic budget hunting rifle, a basic pump shotgun, and a boring basic production grade AR-15 rifle. It even appears the AR-15 was NY State compliant, with the fixed stocks and muzzle device requirements that the State of New York mandates, except for its “deadly” modification.

It constitutes the most basic “I read a few reviews online and these were alright” arsenal ever assembled and the term is merely designed to get those who do not think critically to fear people who have what the media is stating is an unreasonable amount of firearms and ammunition.

New Flash: A motivated enough killer with any firearm and any ammunition is a problem. It could be a .22 pistol with a single ten round magazine and we could still see a horrific casualty count.

Now to that “modification” they keep mentioning.

It was a standard capacity magazine and a regular magazine catch. Two $9 items that there are hundreds of millions of in circulations. These items, whose prohibition is laughed at and mocked publically continuously, are what differentiate a “safe” rifle from an “assault weapon” in New York. Recall that New York went out of their way to try and crush the life and career of a US Soldier over magazines (and those magazines were issued, not purchased), but they could not stop an 18 year old from circumventing the prohibition and acquiring them. Or from acquiring and installing the normal TDP magazine catch, since that is a legal part as long as you don’t have a *gasp* pistol grip also.

The “bans” are single ply toilet paper trying to hold back and clean up after explosive gut wrenching diarrhea. They aren’t up to the task. They never were. We aren’t even close to treating the sources of the problem, but politicians insist if we just change up the toilet paper a little more, and mandate everyone use 12 squares of it minimum, and fine or jail anyone who goes off brand, we will solve the diarrhea.

We still have yet to perfect pre-crime, we can’t exactly ask “Are you or do you intend to become a racist piece of shit mass murderer?” on a Form 4473 and then have NICS pick it up. Gendron passed the checks. Gendron did not have an entered disqualifying legal history.

Apparently this rifle cost $960. Add a sling and some rounds and the illicit “modifications” of magazines and you’re probably looking at $1,100 or $1,200 bucks. This is a shocking amount to absolutely nobody who remotely touches this industry, to anyone who has made a purchase in the last two or three years, or to anyone realistically looking at making a purchase of a quality firearm in this space. But it is being touted publicly as abnormal.

These numbers, the costs, the amount of firearms, and the word “arsenal” keep being tossed around to deliberately provoke people who do not know, and that the media knows will not be bothered to critically think through, the information they are being presented and how it scales to normalcy. They have no concept of gun ownership normal, so anything

The problem is not sneaky entrepreneurs who sell accessories; it’s legislators who ban guns based on functionally unimportant features. They do this for the same reason Biden just banned (but didn’t actually ban) “ghost guns” with the updates to frame and receiver definitions. They get to pretend they are doing something and then blame the pro-2A lobby for being obstructionist when their terrible idea to fix the problem didn’t work.

As long as we keep treating evil like it originates from the proximity of the ability to harm someone, but only in a way the politicos say is scary and not other way, we never make progress on this.

5 Reasons Why Every Gun Owner Should Have a Silencer

By

David Reeder

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May 17, 2022

Just about every movie with a silencer portrays someone shooting a silencer-strapped gun followed by a strange, quiet laser sound that someone three feet away wouldn’t hear. They look cool, and in the movies, they sound cool. The cool gun guy pulls out his PPK, USP, Glock, or the hottest gun in Hollywood at the time and screws the silencer to the barrel before he wreaks havoc on his enemy. But as we all know, most movies are not accurate. And most of the time, the reason they’re using a silencer is not the real reason why people need them or choose to use them.

Let’s go over a bit of terminology and the history of suppressors, and then I’ll give you five reasons why I think every gun owner should have one.

Silencer or suppressor?

The first thing everyone should know is the difference between the two terms silencer and suppressor. The answer: not a thing. When someone uses either one of these two terms, they are describing the same thing. While there are a few cases when a custom-made suppressor for a specific high-end gun can be extremely quiet, they are normally not even close to what I would call silent. Because of this, I prefer to call them suppressors when I’m around people who do not understand how they work. However, the terms can be used interchangeably so long as the audience understands they are not typically “silent.” A car muffler will make a vehicle much quieter, but you can still hear it running; it’s just not the ear-deafening sound you hear when there is no muffler. The suppressor is the gun’s muffler.

To better understand the purpose of the suppressor, let’s look at why it was invented in the first place. The invention of the suppressor is
generally credited to Hiram Maxim who filed a patent in 1909 for what was trademarked as the “Maxim Silencer.” There are some that like to
portray suppressors as something only used by special forces and snipers, and they have been used by these groups of military personnel for decades. But is that why they were invented?

SilencerCo Omega 9K suppressor. — The Omega 9K BLK by SilcencerCo (pictured above) is one of the smallest, lightest, and quietest silencers in its respective class.

Mr. Maxim is reported to have said, “The Maxim Silencer was developed to meet my personal desire to enjoy target practice without creating a disturbance. I have always loved to shoot, but I never thoroughly enjoyed it when I knew that the noise was annoying other people. It occurred to me one day that there was no need for the noise. Why not do away with it and SHOOT QUIETLY.”

When shooting most any type of firearm, ear protection is required to protect your hearing from temporary or permanent damage. Most typical handgun rounds will produce 150-165 decibels. That’s loud enough to cause hearing damage if hearing protection is not worn. This can be greatly reduced with a well-made suppressor attached to your gun like those made by SilencerCo.

SilencerCo makes a great line-up of suppressors for about any type of handgun or rifle and often one silencer can work on multiple platforms. This can help with cost and with convenience.

So how would a suppressor help you?

According to SilencerCo, their Octane Multi-Caliber suppressor can lower the decibel of a 9mm round to approximately 127. This is much quieter and safer on your hearing but obviously not “silent.” So, if a “silencer” can still be easily heard by those around, why are they so regulated? That’s a good question for Uncle Sam because I don’t have a good answer for you. My guess is they just want your $200 tax fee for purchasing one.

During my career in law enforcement, we have used a variety of suppressed guns and there is one reason for it. It’s safer on our guys, especially when firing indoors. Try standing in a confined area and firing a gun; the impact on your hearing can cause you to become disoriented and knock you off balance. As for the “dangers” of suppressors, I have worked a lot of cases involving guns in my time and I can say I have never worked a shooting that we suspected took place with someone using a suppressor. That is mostly a Hollywood hype of hitmen and CIA operatives and the idea that suppressors were made for their purpose.

5 Reasons to own a suppressor

So here are some reasons gun owners should have a suppressor, should you feel the inkling to take the next step in gun ownership. There are plenty more reasons, but these are my top five.

They are quieter
As discussed above, the sound level of a suppressed gun is greatly reduced, making it much safer for your hearing and those nearby. Our entire society is focused on healthier lifestyles, so why would we not want to encourage safer gun handling and shooting?
Less recoil
Because of the way a suppressor works, there is less recoil when you fire the gun. This means it will be easier for those who may have issues with some calibers or the size of the gun. Your shooting experience can be much better when you can shoot without as much kick.
Flash elimination

When you fire your gun, you may not realize how much expended energy and burning powder is coming out of the end of your barrel. Most
people shoot in the daylight, so it is not as noticeable. If you have ever fired a gun at night however, you will definitely notice it. If you ever
have to defend yourself at night, it can put you at a big disadvantage after your first shot because of the blinding light from your barrel. With a suppressor, you nearly eliminate any flash coming from your gun.

Better accuracy
A suppressor is not going to make you shoot like the Hollywood stars or make you instantly competition ready. So, after that short disclaimer, I will say a suppressor will help improve your accuracy, especially with follow-up shots because of the reduced recoil.
They are pretty cool
If any of the above reasons are not enough for you to want to own a suppressor then maybe you want one just because they look really cool. They make your gun look cooler and they make you look cooler when you’re holding a gun with a suppressor on it!

There can be a lot of confusion out there about suppressors, but the basic fact is they make shooting safer, more accurate, and more fun for
everyone around. The required tax fee is a one-time $200 fee along with the application and if that intimidates you, there are now touch screen terminals at gun stores where you can purchase a suppressor from companies like SilencerCo and it will help you complete the required ATF form. It can take a while for it to get approved, but once you have your new suppressor at the range, it will all be worth the wait.

Guest post by Jason Mosher.

We don’t understand how good we’ve got it.

By

Keith Finch

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May 16, 2022

The 9-Hole video on the Beretta AR 70/90 is an interesting one.

Thus why I am sharing it. But one of the reasons I find it most fascinating is in how far we’ve come in arms development from what we were looking at service rifle wise during the 5.56 adoption and what we are getting performance from of now.

We also don’t understand just how good we had it hear in the US, or just how good Kalashnikov had it given to the Russians with the 74. The M16A1 and A2, the AK74, and the M4 are all astonishingly good rifles in their eras. Reliable, accurate, and with significant creature comforts in serviceable triggers, sights, and accuracy exceeding bare minimums in many instances. They’d stay there too, until the rifles would get really worn.

We often forget just how progressive we are in small arms development here in the states, and that even foreign companies who have been doing this for centuries have a hard time grasping just how optimization crazed we are. Even domestic companies failed to notice, Colt was a classic example.

What I am getting at here is look at the performance of the AR70/90, a solid cold war era service rifle that Beretta developed and produced, and then compare it to what we had in the M16A2. Then look at what we’ve done in the A4/M4A1 era and the URG-I evolutions and compare that to the mundane mediocrity so many other services around the world accept. Basically amounting to crates of rifles that toss lead in the right direction.

We’ve got optics, active and passive nighttime aiming, suppression, upgraded ammunitions and more. Who else, even among our allies has even seriously stepped away from M855/SS109 5.56 NATO or M80 ball 7.62 NATO? Who have invested in modern optics? In modern slings even? Who have their kit looked at and optimized for a working loadout?

We have it good folks. We have it great actually. The standards we’ve continually pushed in small arms development, especially GWOT and post-GWOT have put us where we are today into efficiencies that other organizations don’t even understand.

Firearm science is cool.

The M1 Carbine – From WW2 to the Stakeout Squad

By

Travis Pike

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May 16, 2022

I have a bit of an infatuation with the M1 Carbine. I always have. It’s one of the first rifles I ever fired, and the little carbine was kind to me as a child. Recoil was minimal, it was semi-automatic and a ton of fun to shoot. The M1 Carbine carved its way into the firearms hall of fame, and by all measure, it shouldn’t have.

Our little carbine is an interesting weapon. It’s a short-stroke, gas-operated, magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle designed for a very specific purpose. It’s not quite a rifle as we know it, and it’s not a submachine gun either. If you had to classify the M1 Carbine, it would be a light rifle.

Heck, not only was the gun interesting, but the little .30 Carbine round it fires takes some cake. It’s not quite a pistol round, and it’s certainly not a traditional rifle round. It’s a 7.62×33 caliber round with a 110-grain projectile. The round screamed out at 1,990 feet per second and hit hard from the carbine.

It’s still an odd duck in a military armed with Thompsons, M1 Garands, and BARs. What was the purpose of the little gun?

The M1 Carbine – A Need and Purpose

It’s no secret the M1 Garand is a big, heavy rifle. It’s a full-powered battle rifle, and it turned out not everyone needs a full-powered battle rifle. Truck drivers, artillery gun bunnies, radiomen, typists, cooks, and similar roles didn’t need the big M1 Garand. Newly formed paratrooper units also needed a light rifle, and they got added to the list of recipients.

The M1911 was still just a handgun and not a choice many would take when going to war. The M1 Thompson was too expensive, heavy, and slow to produce to arm rear echelon personnel. The Army decided they wanted a light rifle. It needed to weigh half as much as an M1 and have an effective range of about 300 yards.

The Light Rifle Contest began, and entries flooded in. John Garand, Thompson, H&R, Savage, and more submitted to the trials with a wide swath of different types of rifles and carbines. Winchester developed the cartridge and initially did not submit a rifle design. After the Ordnance department found the submitted carbines unsatisfactory, they began to consider scaling down their .30-06 M2 project.

A team of five engineers produced a prototype in 13 days. The prototype proved successful, and after a little cleaning up, the M1 Carbine was born.

The M1 Carbine In Action

With Hitler knocking on the door, the M1 Carbine couldn’t have come at a better time. While the main infantry force was to use a mix of M1 Garands and Thompsons, the M1 Carbine became an instant hit. While its original intention was for rear echelon types, it found its way to frontline troops. It offered a lighter rifle than the M1 Garand and more range and power than the .45 ACP. Paratroopers used the M1A1 variant with a metal folding stock.

Winchester’s little carbine was a hit with soldiers and proved itself a worthy weapon. Although the gun couldn’t drop the enemy like the M1 Garand, it filled a valuable niche. One famous user of the rifle was Audie Murphy. Audie praised the Thompson and Garand but seemingly loved the M1 Carbine.

It makes sense. He was a small fella. According to Fred Causley at Stillwater News-Press, Audie wasn’t issued a carbine but found a broken one, repaired it, and made it his own. He loved and appreciated the rifle so much he still remembered the serial number in 1967. A clerk at the Center of Military History dialed the number in, and they had the rifle in storage!

That M1 Carbine sits in the Ft. Stewart museum.

Cold Clothes and the .30 Carbine

Going into Korea, the M1 Carbine evolved into the M2 Carbine. The main difference is the ability to fire full auto. It’s easy to argue that the M2 could be considered an early assault rifle, but you’d likely see some argument about that.

Even so, the M1 and M2 served side by side, but the M2 variant was more widely used. However, soldiers in Korea didn’t seem to appreciate the Carbine as much as WW2 vets. Although it’s likely, a good few Korean war soldiers saw hell in the Pacific and Europe before marching to Seoul.

The M1 Carbine wasn’t great in cold weather, and they didn’t call it the Frozen Chosin out of irony. Cold can be hell on guns. Just ask Garand Thumb and the internet rage machine. There were also complaints that the M1 Carbine failed to stop Korean and Chinese soldiers.

The heavy clothing they wore was stopping bullets! Maybe it was frozen clothing too! This has seemingly been debunked over and over. Heavy clothes didn’t stop the .30 Carbine. What is more likely is that the full auto of the M2 Carbine and the rush of war caused accuracy issues, and men missed more than they’d like to admit.

Alongside the M2 Carbine and M1 Carbine, the M3 made an appearance. The M3 was an M2 with fittings and parts to allow the mounting of early night vision optics. These big beasts were used in static positions to spot and eliminate nighttime infiltrators.

The War at Home With The Stakeout Squad

The M1, M2, and M3 went to Vietnam with early advisors in the mid-1950s. The M1 Carbine series were used throughout the conflict in various roles until the M16’s adoption in 1964. South Vietnamese forces did continue to use the carbine.

Where the M1 Carbine continued to serve was with police agencies. Older military models in the M1 and M1A1 configuration found their way into the world of police agencies.

One, in particular, stands out. The Stakeout Squad of the NYPD. These guys were the NYPD’s best gunfighters, and they had the role of staking out businesses primed for armed robbery in the 1970s. It was a violent time, and these guys would often encounter armed robbers and engage them.

The tools of the trade were the S&W .38 Special revolver, the Ithaca 37, and the M1 Carbine. The M1 Carbine became a favorite of the Stakeout Squad, especially after being modified to work with 110-grain JHPs.

The light rifle offered a rapid-fire design that was likely easy to use in and out of the Stakeout Squad’s vehicles. Plus, at close range, they were plenty powerful, low recoiling, and lightweight. Read Tales of the Stakeout Squad to get deep into their use of the M1 Carbine.

The M1 Carbine Now

The M1 Carbine still remains a cult favorite for a lot of shooters. They are super fun, super accurate, and still made by a number of companies. They are mostly collector and hobbyist weapons these days, but if all you had for defensive use was an M1 Carbine, I don’t think you’d feel outgunned.

Gunday Brunch 52: On A Very Special Gunday Brunch

By

David Reeder

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May 15, 2022

It’s our friggin birfday! The show turns one year old today, and to celebrate the guys are reminiscing about old-school 90s shows, and bringing you an update on the ammo crisis, which is sort of over but not really

Win an MCX-SPEAR and Support SOFIC!

By

Keith Finch

-

May 13, 2022

NEWINGTON, N.H., (May, 2021) – SIG SAUER is pleased to support Task Force Dagger Special Operations Foundation with an exclusive SIG MCX-SPEAR package for the Task Force Dagger SOF Auction and Raffle occurring in conjunction with the upcoming SOFIC (Special Operations Forces International Conference) show. Task Force Dagger Special Operations Foundation is a veteran-operated non-profit that aids wounded, ill, or injured U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) members and their families. This exclusive package includes a SIG MCX-SPEAR Rifle in a 6.5 Creedmoor caliber, a TANGO6T riflescope, and a SIG SLX Suppressor. The auction opened on Monday, May 9th and will close on Tuesday, May 17th at 8:00pm.

“It is an honor for SIG SAUER to support the mission and programs of Task Force Dagger year after year in support of the Special Operations Community. This year with the excitement of our selection as the provider of the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons Program (NGSW) and the SOFIC show we are hopeful that our donation of this MCX-SPEAR package will help to increase the success and reach of the Task Force Dagger Foundation programs within the SOF community,” said Jason St. John, Director, Government Products. “The MCX-SPEAR and the SLX Suppressor are the same platform and suppressor as the NGSW rifle. For this auction, the rifle is offered in the soon-to-be-released 6.5 Creedmoor caliber and paired with the popular TANGO6T riflescope currently in use in various set-ups throughout the military. With the excitement and demand of the MCX-SPEAR in the commercial market we are hopeful that this will inspire the bidding to benefit the organization.”

The SIG MCX-SPEAR rifle is an adaptable multi-caliber rifle featuring rear and side non-reciprocating charging handles, 6-position folding stock, ambidextrous fire control, bolt-catch, and mag release, 2-stage match trigger, 2-position adjustable gas piston, a lightened free-float M-LOK™ handguard, a full-length picatinny rail, and ships with (1) 20-round magazine.

The SIG SAUER SLX Series of suppressors are designed to drastically reduce toxic fume inhalation by the end-user and sound reduction. The SLX suppressors feature a monolithic core construction in Inconel, an internal multi-flow path to exhaust gases at a higher rate resulting in lower toxic fume inhalation, a sound-reducing baffle design, a flash reducing end cap, and are available with either the new Clutch-Lock QD mounting system for easy install and removal that offers an intuitive tactile locking ring with infinite radial locking positions or direct thread.

The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics TANGO6T optic is currently in use as the Direct View Optic (DVO), Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDMR) and the USSOCOM Squad-Variable Powered Scope (S-VPS). The SIG SAUER TANGO6T 1-6x24MM riflescope is available in first and second plane, and varying reticles including 5.56/7.62 Horseshoe Dot, HELLFIRE MOA Milling, HELLFIRE FL-6 and the new DWLR6.

The complete details of the SIG SAUER MCX-SPEAR package to benefit the Task Force Dagger SOF Auction are available on the auction website and bidding is open through Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 8:00pm.

About SIG SAUER, Inc.
SIG SAUER, Inc. is a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, suppressors, airguns, and training. For over 250 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of tactical training and elite firearms instruction at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has over 2,900 employees across eleven locations. For more information abo ut the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.

FN Commentary… and the FN Tac 3 – Colion Noir

By

Keith Finch

-

May 13, 2022

It’s Friday, so I’ll let it be an FN Friday and share a video review on the FN Tac 3.

But mostly I want to share the commentary on FN that Colion delivers in the beginning. Because it is spot on. FN was a company that seemed to forget that they made AR-15’s, and like.. good ones when they put their mind to it. The Tactical Carbine variations were fine rifles that nobody knew about.

I only knew about them when I found them listed, I found them when I was looking up information on the much better known Military Collector series. I was looking up their old GWOT retro stuff and found they make a much newer AR-15.

Wild. You should talk about that more!

*Talks about NRCH SCAR*

Or, you could talk about those because those are cool too.

Seriously though, FN has a strong AR-15 game that gets quietly passed over because the SCAR is the effin’ FN SCAR, the handguns are rock solid, and the GWOT nostalgia for front sights and KAC rails is real. Which is fine. I love my modded M16A4. But off the shelf, M-LOK’d and floated, ambidextrous guns are certainly the current production direction.

Enjoy your Friday readers! (or hope enjoyed if you read this later)

The One-Point Sling – Does it Have a Place in 2022

By

Travis Pike

-

May 13, 2022

There was a time when the cool guys all rocked one-point slings. It was MY time, so I’m either old, or the industry moves fast.

[Editor’s Note: We’re old, Travis…]

Go watch Generation Kill. All those dudes rock single points. In the 2008 time frame, if you got an M16, you dealt with the terrible three points that were out there. If you were a cool guy with an M4, you rocked the one-point sling.

By the time I was leaving the Marine Corps, the graduation to the tactical two-point had begun. Now M16s rocked out with Blue Force Gear VCAS slings, and so did a fair amount of the M4s. The tactical-two point has since taken over, and admittedly it’s the best overall type of sling on the market. There isn’t just one way to skin that cat, either. Magpul, BFG, Arbor Arms, VTAC, and many more produce awesome two-point slings.

That leaves me wondering, does the one-point have a place? Seeing as how a few companies produce slings that convert from a two-point to a one-point, it seems plausible.

What’s The Problem With One-Point Slings

As the name implies, a one-point sling attaches to a single point on the gun, typically the stock or just in front of the stock. The sling then forms a big loop you wrap around your body. It’s simple, so what’s the problem?

A one-point sling offers very limited support and stabilization. The front end of the gun just drops and can flop around. This lack of support limits your ability to go hands-off on your rifle. With the weapon swinging and banging, it can be tough to climb over obstacles, use two-handed tools, carry a wounded comrade, or even provide medical support to the wounded.

Don’t forget the famous nut tap one-points leave you with. If you drop the rifle and go hands-off, it tends to swing downward and give your boys a hearty hello. Lord forbid there is a suppressor on the gun, and it sits against your leg after a long string of fire. There will be something else on fire then

You lose a lot of your ability for a sling to add stabilization to your shooting as well. For all these reasons, the one-point lost a lot of steam and fell out of popularity. Although that doesn’t mean they don’t have their strengths.

Where Do They Shine

One-point slings offer maximum maneuverability. It’s super easy to use the one-point inside buildings and maneuver through CQB environments. It’s less strap and therefore offers less to catch on. To me, switching shoulders has always been a lot easier with a one-point than a two or three-point sling.

Also, when operating in and out of vehicles, the one-point shines. It doesn’t catch on anything, and for a passenger, you don’t have to remove your rifle to climb into the vehicle. Most of Iraq was fought in trucks and tracks, so it’s not a big surprise the one-point rose to such prominence.

In the modern age, some guns are so small that the one point might be the only option. For something like the Army’s recently adopted APC9K, a single point makes a ton of sense. It’s a subcompact submachine gun, and there isn’t a ton of room for anything but a one-point.

Rethinking One-Point Slings

The more I think about the one-point slings, the more I think the sling should be dropped from their name. If we stopped thinking of them as slings and started thinking about them as retention straps, it starts makes sense. The one-point offers you retention of your weapon, not necessarily supporting your weapon.

As a retention strap, it’s tough to complain about. If you’re in and out of vehicles, you could be in a vehicle accident, and it’s hostile, having your gun stuck to your body is a good thing. If you’re maneuvering through a tight environment, you might start wrestling with an opponent for your gun. That one-point retention strap will make it a lot tougher to take from you.

For a home defense scenario, I see a lot of advocates for ditching the sling because they can catch on things or be tough to use in extremely close quarters. Ditch the two-point, but the one-point likely provides a little extra retention should things go hands-on.

Heck, if the long gun scenario, a one-point sling properly fit can apply tension that makes pointing and carrying a long gun a bit easier with a single hand. You may only have one hand when opening doors, calling the police or guiding dependents to safety.

Strap Up

The one point might be on the hill, but it’s not quite over it. It’s a niche tool, to be certain, but like most niche tools, it shines in the right context. It’s not for everyone, and it’s good the military switched to the two-point. However, that doesn’t mean we should completely abandon the idea.

Review: .30 Super Carry

By

V. Caldwell

-

May 12, 2022

sc8 — .30 SC on the left, a 9mm on the right.

Recently Federal introduced a new handgun caliber, the .30 Super Carry. The .30 Super Carry is an interesting caliber with a bit of history behind it. The .30 SC is highly developed, well thought out, and reliable. Whether you need the .30 SC or not is another question.

I recently read one of the first features on a pistol in the new caliber. The author admits he did not have a compact Smith & Wesson on hand but fired the caliber in a full size, custom grade 1911. I can only ask why? The lack of a compact .30 SC rendered his report largely irrelevant. He misstated the cartridge performance and mistakenly listed the bullet weight as 115 grains (9mm loads) instead of 100 grains.

While par for the course for some of the popular press, I was disappointed. This GAT review is the straight skinny. What there is to say, that is. Not a lot of new information on this cartridge and only one load generally available. The .30 Super Carry, according to Federal Cartridge and Smith & Wesson, is made to offer an improvement over the .380 ACP and to offer less recoil than the 9mm. Trying to state the caliber equals the 9mm is ludicrous. It is a hot little round but it doesn’t equal the 9mm. It isn’t supposed to.

The vehicle for the new .30 round is the Smith & Wesson Shield EZ rack.

This pistol is well designed, and in the examples I have tested reliable and accurate. This isn’t a micro pistol but a handgun that many would think is in the ideal size handgun for personal defense. The Smith & Wesson pistol uses a polymer frame and steel slide. The pistol is a single action with an internal hammer. The hammer is concealed by the slide. The EZ Rack features an ambidextrous safety and a grip safety that prevents the pistol from firing unless the grip safety is pressed completely.

The operation of the pistol is similar to the Colt 1903 and 1908 .32 ACP and .380 ACP pistols. In their day these Colts were among the finest made and easiest to use of all pocket size pistols. They were in more gunfights than many more famous handguns. The Shield EZ Rack is also a concealed hammer single action pistol with a grip safety. The Shield EZ Rack, however, features superior sights and an ambidextrous safety. The pistol is designed to be easy to rack/cycle, hence the name. The Shield EZ Rack is a nice handling pistol. It is more accurate than you would think.

The pistol was originally offered in .380 ACP. I said ho hum. The original EZ Rack is easy to handle, kicks but little, and is more accurate than many sub compact handguns. It should be, this is a Colt 1903 size pistol not a super tiny handgun. But the .380 isn’t my idea of a defense cartridge. There isn’t enough penetration in most loads, those that penetrate don’t expand well- and so on. Working in a busy district for many years and arriving just after fact to several shootings with the popular .380 does not add to my opinion of the calibers poor reputation.

Those who tell you that all calibers are the same with no other context possibly missed their calling as televangelists or loan sharks. Then Smith gave us the 9mm Shield EZ. The 9mm Luger is a great round for shoe horning into compact pistols. Recoil is reasonable, even in this small a handgun. The pistol is as accurate as many larger pistols. So we have a really neat pistol with a slide that is easy enough to rack and which holds eight rounds in the magazine. The sights are good and the pistol seems trouble free.

For some of us the 9mm doesn’t kick that much, the .45 is far from brutal, and we don’t cry out until we fire small Magnums with sharp edges. But not all of us are immune to recoil. I am not. I may fire a hundred rounds of 9mm in a session and laugh about it. I may enjoy practice with the .45 but I will rub my wrists afterward. I guess that is average for most male handgunners with some experience. Recently I was teaching a class and among them was a seventy year old woman and her son. The son was a mountain of a man, strong and a good shot. His only problem was watching for slide cuts from his 9mm Hellcat. The woman was feisty and managed the 9mm Hellcat but was tired and had begun to miss more often toward the end of the class. Was the 9mm too much for her? Maybe, but the next step down is a big one. Load the 9mm with Hornady Critical Defense and you have a reasonably effective defensive handgun. The lighter calibers- not too much.

I have fired the .32 H & R Magnum a bit and enjoy its accuracy. The problem is in most handguns the .32 H & R Magnum actually hits about 1,000 fps to perhaps 1040 fps with the 85 grain bullet. That isn’t enough. Expansion is poor. I am certain Federal looked at this number when developing the .30 SC. Another round they probably did not look at is the .32 French Long. This was the caliber adopted by France in their quirky M1935 self loader. This was a hot little round. I owned one- and I often experiment for the sheer joy of handloading and for no other reason – no sane reason. I propelled a 60 grain Hornady XTP to over 1,200 fps in this caliber. The French 1935 is in some ways a miniature SIG P210. Accuracy was exceptional and bullet expansion reliable. I became tired of turning the rim off .32 revolver cartridge cases to form the 7.65mm French cartridge cases. This was a neat little gun to play with, however, outstripping the .32 Magnum revolver. The new .30 Super Carry is superior.

The .30 SC is intended to give a person who cannot handle 9mm recoil a fighting chance. In this instance the designers were dead on in their design criteria. Although the above noted pundit told us the .30 SC uses 115 grain bullets and compared it to the .327 revolver round – and he isn’t the only one – the .30 SC uses a 100 grain bullet.

The Shield EZ Rack will hold ten cartridges in the magazine versus the eight shot 9mm. That is an improvement but how the pistol and cartridge combination perform is more important.

Very well, it turns out. Accuracy and reliability are good. I like firing the .30 SC. Recoil is more than the .380 but not the same jolt as the 9mm – although some of us may not be able to tell the difference. You may zip four rounds into the target in the time it takes to deliver three 9mms- but then a trained shooter who may handle a 9mm doesn’t need this gun. Those who are physically challenged by age, arthritis, or other complaints will find the .30 SC viable. But the cartridge must have decent performance or it isn’t worth a nickel. I fired the 9mm and .30 in a side by side comparison using water jugs to test penetration and expansion. These are my results.

9mm 124 grain HST v .30 SC 100 grain HST

Velocity: 1180 fps v 1204 fps

Penetration: 18 inches v 20 inches

Expansion: .78 v .66

As you can see the .30 SC isn’t a 9mm, but it isn’t a pipsqueak either. The person having a problem with 9mm recoil will find the .30 SC attractive. So will an occasional shooter. At present ammunition is about 15% more than comparable 9mm cartridges, which is a blow to the caliber’s introduction but not unexpected. I would think this over carefully. I don’t need the .30 SC, at least not at this point, but it is a viable choice. The pistol is designed for personal defense, but just the same the caliber seems well suited to some types of trail use too. Light, easy to backpack, and strong enough for a rabid bobcat or a marauding coyote and all but the largest feral dogs, this hot little cartridge has some utility in the outdoors.

45,000+ Gun Deaths in 2020 – What Happened?

By

Keith Finch

-

May 12, 2022

2020 was a rough year and the mortality stats confirm it.

I mean that sincerely. It was a year where we shut down country and strained the nation past certain breaking points, the results of bad reactionary decision after decision that were limping along when things were good.

When things got bad. When we had to combat an aggressive viral infection, and we axed people’s livelihoods to do it, then we filled their media with fear, hatred, and comply no matter what or you’re “the enemy” of good people. Things broke. People got violent.

Oh, and riots. Remember those? Remember cities on fire over ‘the wrongs’ of the society, all culminating in a riot(ish) event around the election too, the infamous January 6th. One that was either a total coup/insurrection/tustle/favorite scary word for a group temper tantrum.

So yes, 2020 was a bad year. Those with the least margin of comfort, the impoverished, were hit hardest by the drastic changes and too little too late recompense. Cities especially turned more violent and those at highest risk of violent assault and death suffered more of it under the strain of the pandemic responses.

Historically however, we’re up but we haven’t reached 1990’s bad. Not even close yet. We have to jump another 50% from 2020 and the numbers out of Chicago for 21′ and 22′ are showing that 21 might’ve been peak bad for the moment.

Was homicide tied to the historic numbers of guns being sold? All the “assault weapons” in ciculation?

No. Not unless there is about a 20 year gap between murder spikes, completely independent of firearms sold. 2020’s spike didn’t reach the absolute level of the 2001 spike, this with firearm sales volumes approximately 4.4x higher in 2020 than 2001. 6.1 deaths per 100,000 for 2020 compared to 6.7 per 100,000 in 2001, against the NICS Checks at 39.7 million in 2020 and only 8.9 million in 2001. Why was 2001 a higher spike than 2020 with much lower volume in firearms transfers and the assault weapon ban still being in place? It was not as large a percentage spike, only about 21% compared to 2020’s 35%. But in absolute terms 2001 had a higher murder rate than 2020 by almost 10%. As bad a year as 2020 was it was still less violent than 2001. It was also less violent than 1997 and back.

I’m sure somebody will point out out that gun sales, or background checks at least, surged 39% while homicides surged 35% from 2019 to 2020.

That seems highly correlative, right?

But only if you ignore real volumes, prior year data, and all societal strains and motives that drive the firearms economy. Motives like that Gen Z in general, and increasing numbers of minority and female buyers are becoming more firearms friendly. Also ignoring that the worst spikes in crime in this 2020 spike were the areas we already know are the highest risk.

Firearms sales dipped a little in 2021 but our information is indicating deaths went up. Sales may have dropped a little, but taken in the wider context of it being the second year of the pandemic and post riot stresses, the numbers staying elevated makes sense. I suspect 2022 is going to be higher than 2021 but not by much and I may be wrong and we will see a slight drop as we saw certain stresses ease into an equilibrium again. Sales of firearms have fallen off sharply to back between 2019 and 2020’s numbers, again no correlation of sales to deaths is attributable in a vacuum.

Social stresses though, those are still being felt dramatically. I N F L A T I O N being the big one at the moment and contributing to others. That’s the wonderful [sarc/] thing about social stresses, they compound very efficiently.

What happened?

We pushed an on edge nation during a time where we were already not the friendliest to each other, and where politicos on both sides had been softly implying violence against the ‘right’ people was okay. We were sitting on a rather nicely pressurized mess of stress and then cranked the pressure relief valve all the way closed.

Now we are acting shocked that it popped, and blaming the mere existence of weapons for that pop. If the sale and transfer of firearms were the problem, it would be obvious. The data would track. It doesn’t. It does nicely track with how “calm” the messages our society is circulating through media are, along with the real world economic and social stresses.

People need to take a deep breath and go touch some grass. Nothing happens in a vacuum and we can turn the trend in violence and suicides around. But I don’t think we see it until the mid 2020’s at this point. I’m hoping 2022 shows a dip from 2021, and if we’re using Chicago as a measuring stick we might. We need to keep on top of all the points of societal pressure to make certain that violence isn’t the path of least resistance to the end goal. We will see a more civil society again if we focus on those points.

Expect this CDC report to be used to push gun control anywhere it has a chance of sticking. Expect New York, California, and their followers to go harder on restrictions if they can. I don’t know what the Supreme Court is going to do, especially with the Roe leak changing the civil pressures again and putting the Justice’s at risk on one of the easily two most contentious issues in public discourse.

Definitely expect the usual suspects to report on “record increases” in homicide rates and then quietly allude to the fact the overall rate is still average. Not great, but solidly middle. The world isn’t great right now, but it has certainly been worse in living memory.

‘S.A.F.E. Act’: Violating the Second Amendment and obstructing mental health care

By

DRGO

-

May 12, 2022

(from newstarget.com)

[Ed: This piece first ran in SCOPE-NY’s Briefings on April 18. This experience of Sandra Richardson, a Masters level Registered Nurse, exemplifies the damage that Red Flag Laws do (as included in New York’s misleadingly name MHL § 9.46, the S.A.F.E. Act).]

It all began when I sought guidance on managing stress from a healthcare provider. After I did so, a report was filed against me under the New York SAFE Act’s Mental Hygiene Law (MHL) § 9.46, “reports of substantial risk or threat of harm by mental health professionals.”

Under this law, when a mental health provider determines, “in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment,” that a patient is “likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others,” that provider “shall” be required to report this. In turn, that information can be used to revoke any pistol license, confiscate all of a person’s guns and make that person ineligible to possess any guns of any kind in this state.

As a result of and five weeks after that report, the Sheriff’s office demanded any guns that I possessed. That demand was the first notice I received of the report against me. An order to show cause came in the mail shortly after that, directing me to appear in court to plead my case.

I hired an attorney, prepared my defense, and fought for my rights. Four months after the report, the court ruled in my favor and my pistol permit was “restored immediately.” The court’s conclusion of law deemed the MLH § 9.46 report to be “arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion.” A victory, but at a cost of both $4,000 in legal fees and, ironically, magnified stress.

Not only did this process cost me thousands and magnify my stress level, it made me want to share my story to raise awareness. I also wanted to help providers understand the impact of and their responsibility under this law. This unfortunate experience should not happen to anyone because they sought care.

Although unfortunate, this experience piqued my curiosity. I wanted to understand more about the impact of MHL § 9.46 on the citizens of New York. There are very few people who have shared their story publicly, but I could not be the only person to whom this happened.

I learned that beyond the provider who files a report, the relevant information goes to at least four entities: the State Office of Mental Health (OMH); the County Director of Community Services; the State Department of Criminal Justice Services (DJCS), and if the reported person has a handgun permit or registered assault weapon, the County Sheriff’s office.

Based on information obtained from a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, OMH has all of the reports ever filed. Based on another FOIL request, the DCJS has only the past five years of the reports. The Director of Community Services to whom I spoke told me that he does not retain the information. It is reasonable to assume that the county Sheriff’s Office retains records of the confiscation of personal property and the cause of such action.

Meanwhile, the subject of the report is not permitted to see it and the reporter is not obligated to make the person aware of the report. Based on the DCJS FOIL request, only one percent of those reported are notified of the report and that is because they have a handgun permit or registered assault weapon in the state database. That one percent get a day in court to challenge the allegations and retain their rights. The remaining ninety-nine percent may never be told that they were reported and may have had multiple Constitutional rights violated, including deprivation of rights and property without due process; specifically, the right to keep and bear arms. This may be a violation of United States Code Title 18 § 242 (Deprivation of rights under color of law).

An additional issue is that there is little recourse against the provider who made the report, even if it is found to be false. Under the law, “the decision of a mental health professional to disclose or not to disclose in accordance with this section, when made reasonably and in good faith, shall not be the basis for any civil or criminal liability of such mental health professional.” However, what constitutes “good faith” and “reasonably” are not defined in the law, leaving it open to interpretation … or misinterpretation.

Furthermore, it has been recognized that the law itself is not intended to protect any one from harm. In reviewing MHL § 9.46, the New York State Psychiatric Association stated that “…following discussions with OMH staff, it has become clear that the SAFE Act reporting requirement is solely to limit access to legal firearms and not to protect individuals from imminent risk of harm to self and others.”

In addition to these flaws, MHL § 9.46 has created a massive barrier to mental health care. That in itself is counterintuitive to the stated purpose of this law.

In August 2020, Psychiatric Quarterly published an original paper, “The Influence of New York’s SAFE Act on Individuals Seeking Mental Health Treatment.” The paper reported on a study conducted to determine if the NY SAFE Act impacts mental health treatment-seeking and symptom-reporting behaviors. According to the study, about 18% of respondents were concerned about being reported to the government, 9% were less likely to seek mental health care, and about 23% were less willing to report mental health symptoms/behaviors to a mental health provider because of the New York State SAFE Act.

Society’s common goal should be to create a space where everyone feels comfortable seeking mental health care when needed. Getting there will involve reducing bias and stigma surrounding guns and gun owners, and removing barriers to care such as MHL § 9.46 of the New York State SAFE Act.

.

— DRGO Editor Robert B. Young, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Pittsford, NY, an associate clinical professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Springfield Emissary 4.25 – 9mm

By

Keith Finch

-

May 11, 2022

The 9mm Emissary 4.25″ blends form and function seamlessly in a firearm built for defense and loaded with custom-grade features. It’s constructed with a forged stainless steel frame and forged carbon steel slide, with a beautiful two-tone finish. The blued carbon steel slide pairs with a stainless steel frame featuring a distinctive squared trigger guard with additional room for ease of operation with a gloved hand. The slide’s “Tri-Top” cut gives the Emissary custom styling, while a flattened top strap is finished with 40 LPI serrations to diffuse light and reduce glare. On top, the tritium and luminescent front sight on the Emissary pairs with a Tactical Rack U-Dot™ rear sight for easy target acquisition in all lighting conditions.

4.25″ BULL BARREL The shortened heavy-profile bull barrel is designed for maximum accuracy and concealability.
U-DOT™ SIGHT PICTURE The tritium and luminescent front sight of the Emissary pairs with a Tactical Rack U-Dot rear sight for easy target acquisition in all lighting conditions.
FLAT TOP SLIDE SERRATIONS 40 LPI flat top slide serrations diffuse light and reduce glare.

The Rock Island Armory TPAS – An Ithaca by Another Name

By

Travis Pike

-

May 11, 2022

Rock Island Armory thought they could sneak out the TPAS without me noticing. I’d have been a giddy little school girl about the idea if I had known. I’ve become a big fan of this new trend of Retro shotguns coming out. Mossberg started it, and lots of companies have followed suit. Rock Island Armory is the latest to do so with the TPAS.

So what’s the TPAS? As far as I can tell, it stands for Trench Pump Action Shotgun. In reality, it’s a Turkish clone of the Ithaca 37 in a riot gun configuration. Ithaca 37s are a classic shotgun configuration that’s been around for decades, and while they’ve fallen out of favor, they are still made in small numbers for high prices. The TPAS provides an Ithaca 37 clone at an affordable price for all your nostalgia needs.

Plus, it comes with the wood furniture and old-school appeal you want from a Trench Gun-style weapon. Rock Island Armory rocks and rolls with a heat shield, five-round tube, sling swivels, and an Ithaca-style front rifle sight. It’s not fancy, but it’s set up to replicate that old cool school that nerds like me love.

The TPAS And Ergos

Yep, welcome to the complaint department! Well, not really. I understand this is a clone of a gun designed in 1933, and it’s replicated almost perfectly here. This means 1933 ergonomics. The pump is textured like a corncob and very small. Calling it a corncob pump is accurate for its texture and size. It’s small but grippable.

The stock is all wood with a great texture over its pistol grip. That texture is aggressive, and you can feel it. The length of pull is about 14 inches, so it’s not a short stock for any reason. Don’t expect much of a recoil pad either. There is a little black piece of rubber, but I don’t think it soaks up much recoil.

The TPAS lacks a side ejection port. The gun loads from the bottom and ejects from the bottom. This is great in a duck blind, so you don’t throw hulls into your buddy’s face, but it’s not the best for the fighting gun. You can’t do a port load, and a slug select drill isn’t exactly easy.

Control It

Control-wise we have a cross-bolt safety behind the trigger and a huge pump release that I adore. It’s seriously nice and very easy to reach when necessary. When you unlock the pump, the action nearly opens itself.

That brings us to the action. The TPAS is an Ithaca clone, so you only have a single action bar. That could create binding, but I haven’t experienced that just yet. What shocked me was the smoothness of the TPAS. Holy crap, that action cycles brilliantly. It’s super clean and smooth.

The TPAS At the Range

I was excited to shoot this beast, so I brought a range bag full of goodness. I brought some hard-hitting, high-powered Fioochi birdshot, stock standard Federal Buckshot, and a little Federal Flitecontrol. Slug wise I brought a single box of Winchester Defender segmenting slugs. The TPAS is beefy at a little over 8 pounds, but the gun is well balanced. The rear grip and front pump provide enough texture to dig in tight for a little push/pull.

Launching that full-powered buckshot didn’t provide much of a challenge. The super-smooth action makes it fast cycling and fast-firing if you know how to control a shotgun. I could deliver two rounds of buckshot from a cruiser ready, low ready setup in less than 1.5 seconds.

The TPAS front sight is easy enough to see and stand up and off the barrel far enough to deliver a perfect point of aim and point of impact action. I could use the white-colored front sight to dial in and ring steel gongs at 50 to 75 yards easy enough with the slugs. By the time I got to 100 yards, the ammo was low, and I went 2 out of 3 on an IPSC target.

The gun fights you a bit, as any pump shotgun will do, but it’s controllable. Surprisingly so. I bought this for the historical experience, but I ended up being quite surprised by the potential and action of this gun. The action’s slick, and the gun cycled and ejected everything without complaint.

Retro Forever

The Rock Island Armory TPAS surprised me the hell out of me. I wanted the Ithaca 37 experience without the Ithaca price, and I got it. I dumped 300 rounds of bird, buck, and some slugs without any complaints. The gun is a beast. My complaints are minimal, and my only true complaint is the text all over the receiver. It’s highlighted and illuminated, and I don’t care for it.

Other than that, the TPAS is an awesome gun. It’s easy to use, cycles so cleanly and goes bang when I need it to. Sure, it’s not perfect or even modern, but for a fun perspective, it rocks.