SnapSafe Under Bed Safes Protect Firearms and Valuables

By

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November 2, 2021

Grand Island, NE (Nov. 2, 2021) – Some homeowners prefer a shotgun or carbine for a home defense weapon. These long guns provide extra peace of mind at night but also require bigger storage containers than pistols. SnapSafe offers the solution. Under Bed Safes keep larger firearms, ammunition and other valuables secure, allowing quick and convenient slide-out access when needed.

Three sizes of SnapSafe Under Bed Safes offer the right-sized secure storage and feature a slide-out draw for easy access to the safe’s contents. All models have a slim profile for mounting below a bed’s frame. Large and XXL models are wide enough to hold most defense shotguns and carbine rifles. The medium safe is best suited to pistols or other valuables like jewelry, documents, data backup hard drives and extra ammunition.

The digital lock, on all Under Bed Safes, uses a user-programmable three-to-eight-digit access code. Safes open with a push-button keypad or key backup. The ability to set multiple safes with the same code means there’s only one number to remember; this feature ensures quick access in a stressful situation!

Under Bed Safes’ pry-resistant door and heavy-duty 14-gauge steel construction blocks unauthorized users. For added security and to prevent safe theft, all Under Bed Safes come pre-drilled for permanent installation or anchored with a rugged cable – opening the possibility of mounting an Under Bed Safes inside a vehicle.

Under Bed Safe Features:

Available in three sizes: medium, large, XXL
Slide-out drawer accommodates firearms, jewelry, documents, and more
Digital lock with key backup can be programmed with a 3 to 8 digit access code
Pry-resistant door keeps children and unauthorized users from gaining access
14-gauge steel construction, with pre-drilled holes for permanent installation
Robust 5-foot cable provides added security when anchored to a stationary object

Under Bed Safe Specifications:
Under Bed Safe: Medium

Exterior: 26″W x 5″H x 20″D
Weight: 51 lbs
MSRP: $481.99

Under Bed Safe: Large

Exterior: 40″W x 6″H x 22″D
Weight: 105 lbs
MSRP: $596.99

Under Bed Safe: XXL

Exterior: 48″W x 7”H x 24”D
Weight: 150 lbs
MSRP: $665.99

NBC News Can’t Take the Joke: LETSGO-15

By

Keith Finch

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November 2, 2021

Thanks to the immortal words of Kelli Stavas, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ became a hilarious new way to voice displeasure with the current president… and NBC has a mighty concern when Palmetto State Armory took the meme and ran.

I shudder when they realize the next meme

But NBC is clearly choosing to take the 1st Amendment protected expression (which Democrats gleefully used under the previous president, #NotMyPresident and so forth) to be an implicit threat against President Joe Biden. It’s a way to be profane toward the sitting POTUS, as if no other president in history has had to endure vulgarity and criticism. This is certainly one of the more clever ways it can be done as it outwardly isn’t vulgar. It’s an middle school grade joke, like Pen-Fifteen (15), where everyone knows what you mean but you didn’t actually say it.

Let’s take a look at how Palmetto State Defines these

Memes.

Literally memes. 100% unequivocally jokes that make a point and are culturally relevant and entertaining in the moment. The President is not popular, he does not enjoy broad support and is constantly committing concerning, criticism worthy, acts and making odd statements. There is an active portion of the population that believes he is genuinely unwell and should retire. If you compare his current state to his eloquence in his earlier political career there is certainly some cause for concern.

Regardless of your fanship of the previous president or not, the current one is significantly short of fantastic. Therefore people make their opinion known in signs, in posts, in pictures, and in purchases. They do so in the culturally current methods of today.

The real amusing thing is the deliberate emphasis NBC is using to try and make this more than a meme. Like this is a joke too far. To try and make this the item that is too aggressive after the absolutely septic swamp that the opposition to Trump brought the political bar to in Washington D.C. It’s laughable.

Good thing, it’s a meme. We can laugh. Should we so choose we can also buy.

My favorite part of the NBC story is that the where they point out that the portions of the US DoJ tasked with investigating threats to the president could not be reached for comment on this… they couldn’t be reached for comment on a meme.

The Coequal 1st & 2nd Amendments

By

DRGO

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November 2, 2021

(from zazzle.com)

[Ed: This was first published yesterday on Ammoland.com by our friends at the Arbalest Quarrel.]

“I must own, I know not what Treason is, if sapping and betraying the liberties of a people be not treason, in the eternal and original Nature of Things.” ~ John Trenchard (1662-1723) & Thomas Gordon, English Journalists and political theorists of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries, the two writing together under the nom de guerre, “Cato.”

The passage comes from “Reflections upon Libelling,” June 10, 1721. Ref: Cato’s Letters; or Essays on liberty, pg 249 (1737).

Back in 2003, several years before the epoch-making rulings of the High Court in Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010), the author of a law review article considered whether the protections underlying the First Amendment against censorship can also be applied to the Second Amendment?

The author of that article, David G. Browne, from whom we borrow a few apt words of the title of his article, for the subtitle of our own—“Treating the Pen and the Sword as Constitutional Equals: How and Why the Supreme Court Should Apply Its First Amendment Expertise to the Great Second Amendment Debate,”—writes, in part:

“The First and Second Amendments differ in both their construction and in the nature of the rights that they secure; it seems that the text of the Second supports a more expansive reading than that given to the First. Despite (or perhaps because of) these differences, legal scholars and philosophers have recently started to wonder what justifies giving the Second Amendment a narrow construction at the same time one gives an expansive interpretation to the First? . . . [The] text cannot help, since both amendments are equally susceptible to either narrow or broad constructions. Reliance on precedent also cannot solve the problem since the narrow interpretation of the Second Amendment is not so settled by a series of Supreme Court decisions that it could not be revisited.” ~ from the Law Review Note, “Treating the Pen and the Sword as Constitutional Equals: How and Why the Supreme Court Should Apply Its First Amendment Expertise to the Great Second Amendment Debate,” 44 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 2287 (April 2003), by David G. Browne.

The author of the above-mentioned law review article could not know, in 2003, that the U.S. Supreme Court would, in fact, revisit the import and purport of the Second Amendment, a few short years later.

And the Court majority did rule, clearly and categorically, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is an individual right, unconnected with one’s service in a militia.

But let us be clear about this: The salient holding in Heller and McDonald didn’t expand the notion of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Rather, it simply acknowledged what was always there in the language of the Second Amendment—that the Right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, not an amorphous collective right. It is a right of the people to be enjoyed irrespective of one’s service in a militia. This is a critical point!

We, therefore, disagree with the author’s contention that the text of one fundamental Right can ever be construed to be more or less expansive than any other fundamental Right.

It is incongruous to give wide latitude to one Fundamental Right and less latitude to another. To conclude otherwise means the framers of the Bill of Rights intended to place limitations on the exercise of Fundamental Rights. They didn’t. And any suggestion to the contrary is both erroneous and ludicrous. Still, it is an error many academic scholars make, and dire repercussions follow from that error of reasoning.

Politicians piggyback off the error as they conceive of ever more ways to restrict and constrict exercise of Americans’ fundamental rights, with the aim of eventually eliminating all of them, to be repackaged as Government sees fit. Therein, tyranny arises.

But there is nothing in the characterization of the text of any of the Rights set forth in the Bill of Rights to suggest constraints to be attached to one or the other of them.

Thus, we do agree with the author of the 2003 article that it makes no sense to treat the Second Amendment as the poor cousin to the First, but we submit that it is altogether incongruous to infer limiting language of any sort in any of the Rights.

Tyranny of Government proceeds from its failure to heed to the dictates of the Bill of Rights as a set of inviolate, fundamental rights emanating from the will of the Divine Creator.

Tenets Of Fundamental Rights:

The language of the Second Amendment, as with all other fundamental, unalienable rights, exists intrinsically in Man.
Fundamental Rights are Primordial Rights, i.e., Natural Law Rights, preexistent in Man that precede all manmade governmental structures.
Fundamental Rights as Primordial Natural Law Rights aren’t privileges to be bestowed on Man by grace of Government, nor can they be taken from Man at Government’s whim.
Since Government did not create and cannot create Primordial Natural Law Rights, Government cannot lawfully modify, dilute, abrogate, or ignore these Rights.
Since Primordial Natural Law Rights are not man-made rules, they cannot be treated as mere privileges to be granted to some and denied to others by grace of Government, nor can they lawfully be rescinded at the whim or pleasure of Government.
Because Primordial Natural Law Rights are unalienable, immutable, illimitable, and eternal, i.e., existing for all time, such Rights are not and cannot reasonably, rationally be perceived as transitory, archaic, anachronistic, antiquated, or conditional, i.e., merely applicable to particular time periods, particular conditions of man, or to particular governmental and societal structures.
Primordial Natural Law Rights, as creations of the Divine Creator, are absolute, permanent, and perfect; sacred and pure, sanctified and inviolate, residing in the Divine Creator and, by the Creator’s Grace, in the Spirit of Man.
The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution is to be perceived as the codification of a set of Primordial Natural Law Rights laid down by the Divine Creator. They are not to be construed merely as the codification of a set of higher, mutable, aspirations of man, conceived by and inspired by man, independent of God’s Hand.
Man is incapable of perceiving Primordial Natural Law Rights, as High Moral Precepts, but for the Divine Creator instilling these Rights in Man’s Spirit.
Each Primordial Natural Law Right recited in the Bill of Rights is to be perceived as part of a unified whole; no Right is to be considered irrelevant, extraneous, redundant, or noncontiguous with any other. They operate from and derive their ultimate strength and potency as a Divine whole.

Only Through Free And Absolute Exercise Of The Bill Of Rights Can Tyranny Of Government Be Forestalled And Prevented

The United States, conceived as a free Constitutional Republic, is on a collision course with Tyranny and in the most literal sense precisely because of the degradation of the Bill of Rights and because of the arrogance of those in power who have forgotten that they rule at the pleasure of the people.

The author of the afore-cited law review article, hoping for a revitalization of the Second Amendment, in line with the First Amendment, could not have foreseen the irony playing out in the Country today, with the denigration and degradation of both.

If the sanctity of the First Amendment were to help buttress the sanctity of the Second, both may ultimately be discarded if the Tyranny of Government succeeds. There is a sad irony in this.

The expansive First Amendment has been radically constricted by the power of a seditious Press and a sympathetic technology sector that exerts massive control over information content and information flow.

An Administration that won’t tolerate dissenting speech, most certainly won’t long abide an armed citizenry either.

If “the pen” can be muzzled, then, so too, can “the sword” be broken. This is the hallmark of an Authoritarian or full-bore Totalitarian Nation. Dissent is deemed intolerable and an armed citizenry, insufferable. And the United States, conceived as and constructed as a free Constitutional Republic, with a free and sovereign citizenry, is rapidly degenerating into the founders’ worst nightmare.

. . .

We ask, and resolve to answer—

If the vast apparatus of the Federal Government devolves into Tyranny, does that not support a finding that high level officials and officers within it can be charged with and tried for “treason” and suffer the consequences if convicted of it? And, if so, cannot and ought not the American people dismantle a Government that has been irreparably damaged by their treacherous, traitorous servants? And might not the people try once again to reconstruct a Government in the form it was originally designed and meant to be, one surely serving their interests, and truly answerable to them?

.

— Roger Katz is CEO of Arbalest Quarrel, and an attorney licensed in Ohio & Arizona (formerly New York) focusing on federal and state firearms issues. He has worked in patent, intellectual property, criminal and securities law and has degrees in English, Philosophy, Public Administration & Education. He believes in the sanctity of the Bill of Rights.

All DRGO articles by Roger Katz

Who to thank for stocks on MP5k’s?

By

Keith Finch

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November 1, 2021

You will have to watch the video to find out.

The MP5 is among the most recognizable submachine guns on the planet and the definitive example of what some industry folk term the ‘3rd’ Generation of the submachine gun. The one where they turned into closed bolt specialized weapons instead of inexpensive stamped steel bullet hoses (‘2nd’ Gen) or elaborate heavy, woodstocked machines like the Thompson (‘1st’ Gen).

We are still in that 3rd Gen and I don’t believe we will ever pass beyond it. Oh, weapons like the MPX and Scorpion EVO3 S1 have made modest gains on the original MP5 for ergonomics but we are at an apex of pistol caliber weapon efficiency-in-role that is unlikely to be surpassed until a significant change and gain in ammunition is made.

We have the same plateau in 5.56x45mm weapons that we have in pistol caliber ones, the guns are built well and we are at the reasonable edges of ammunition efficiency so the change that is coming will be in ammunition.

The .300BLK “NotanH&KMP7” is and example of the problem. It’s a hybrid of the hyper compact MP7/P90 weapons in a conventional rifle caliber that works in a short barrel. It still isn’t a change of technology, which will be the next true leap, just an application of all the efficiencies we currently understand on our modern small arms. The weak point in this system will undoubtedly be how well the magazine works. Making the bolt and operating system work will be unlikely to pose the challenge that making sure feeding works will. But changing a rounds direction in the magazine is already something we have reliably accomplished in the aforementioned P90.

This cool new gun is a culmination of things we already know how to do, and do well, and the MP5k was one of the weapons that jump started this final subgun evolution cycle. The result has been a lot of weapons that work very well.

The Glowstick Tripwire Alarm – How To

By

Travis Pike

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November 1, 2021

Watching cartoons as a kid made me believe that lasers attached to alarms and tripwires would be a serious threat I’d face as an adult. Alas, I’ve yet to see a laser alarm or a tripwire. Yet, tripwires still fascinate me, and I recently found a fun project involving a mouse trap tripwire that acts as a visual alarm. I did this as a fun project with my kiddos one day and felt it would be a fun article.

The idea is simple. You set up a mouse trap against something fixed. It can be a fixed post, a tree, whatever. You set a glow stick at the top of the mousetrap and run a tripwire from the mousetrap to another static location. When the user trips the wire, the mousetrap slams the glow stick, breaking the inside and creating illumination.

When setup is a strategic location, the illumination does two things. First, it signals something is within your perimeter. Two, if it’s a high-quality chem light, you’ve illuminated and silhouetted the intruder.

What You’ll Need

You’ll need a good quality mousetrap and a glow stick, obviously. You can find plenty of either on Amazon or at Walmart. Next, you’ll need a means to attach the mousetrap to a fixed location. I used nothing but the innards of 550 cord, but you can use zip ties, duct tape, whatever is on hand.

Depending on how you want to set it up, you might need tools. I used a drill and pocket knife for my mousetrap tripwire. In a pinch, you can improvise and utilize almost anything to attach the mousetrap to the tree.

Setting Up Your Tripwire

Set your tripwire nice and low. You don’t want it to catch the user’s eye until it’s too late and they’ve snapped it. You want to place it in an area that is a natural path. This might have you clearing a path to encourage the use of a certain path and set your tripwire along this path.

Also, you can set them anywhere as they are quite cheap and very effective. I drilled four holes into the corners of each mousetrap and used the innards of 550 cord to secure it to a tree. At the top, I left some slack so I could insert a glow stick into the cordage and secure it to the trap and tripwire.

You can run the glowstick vertically or horizontally, and it doesn’t really matter. It depends on how you’ve set the trap up. The glowstick just needs to be within the kill bar to be activated. This means to can also just attach it to the tree instead of attaching it to the mousetrap.

Your actual tripwire should run from the notch that’s in the metal petal out to the other tie-off location—tied both ends before setting the trip. Leave a hair of slack, or the trap won’t lock. Too much slack, and it won’t trigger when something hits the tripwire. I set the tripwire about four inches off the ground.

With the other end tied off, I set the trap and gave it a whirl. I stepped on the tripwire, pushed it with my toe, and caught it by the bottom of my boot, and it triggered each time with ease. The little glowstick popped to life when the armbar slapped it.

Camouflage Your Tripwire

I know what you’re saying. The trap sticks out. The white cordage, the wooden trap, all of it just looks rough. That’s true, but I kind of needed it to take pictures for the article. In real life, you’d want to pain the trap and tripwire in a neutral color that blends in. Don’t paint the chemlight, though, or it won’t glow!

Also, if you run night vision, mixing in IR chemlights can give you an extremely stealthy tripwire trap.

When Would I Use This?

Well, if society collapsed, it’d be a handy McGuyver like skill to have. Let’s say I have to prep my home for the hordes of raiders! Way back when I lived in a patrol base in Afghanistan, something like this would’ve been great in the fields around us to sport infiltrators at night.

In all honesty, I can see these being useful while camping. It’d be fun to be alerted to animals in the dark and then spot them with a white light. My main use? Teaching my kids how to make cool tripwire traps, obviously.

The Handle Don’t Move No More

By

Keith Finch

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November 1, 2021

Eat those double negatives, Internet.

Anyway, the NRCH, Non-Reciprocating Charging Handle, variants of the FN SCAR are starting to hit the field and sometime in 2022 the retrofit kits will be available too.

My most annoying feature of the rifle has been fixed in post, as it were. Way… way… way in post. But fixed it is. The funniest thing about this to me is that the team at FN had this from the day it launched. This was developed along with the rifle because, as I understand it, the FN engineers 100% expected SOCOM to come back and say they hated the reciprocating handle. Instead SOCOM went reciprocating even harder, because forward assist, and the world was confused but went along with it.

FN since has sold the everliving piss out of every SCAR 16 and SCAR 17 they have made. So I understand the mentality of don’t fix what isn’t (technically) broke while the supply is not meeting demand as is. But I still think the FN team should have dropped this one years back when they announced the Sub-Compact.

The original charging handle has never been a problem for me, I will be in no rush to retrofit my rifles but I probably will eventually. It just won’t be a priority, I know owners who it will be though, how they shoot and hold the rifle has given them the good ole thumb smack more than once and they are delighted with this change.

Anywho

Yay SCARs.

The Talon – A Karambit By Doug Marcaida and 5.11 Tactical

By

Travis Pike

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October 31, 2021

Knife designer Doug Marcaida teamed up with 5.11 Tactical to produce his latest knife series, the Talon. The Talon is a miniature karambit designed for self-defense, concealed carry, and other such fun. Marcaida’s Talon comes in both fixed and folding designs, and mine is the fixed carry model. Even as a fixed carry blade, the Talon is quite compact, and when paired with the rather awesome included sheath, it’s fairly easy to conceal and very comfortable to carry.

The Ole Karambit

Before we dig into the Talon, let’s talk karambits. A lot of karambit designs are mall ninja bait with a fantasy look, and those should be rightfully ignored. No one has ever bought a good knife at a gas station. However, that doesn’t mean the karambit design shouldn’t be taken seriously. It’s been an Indonesian fighting and utility knife for literally hundreds of years.

Karambits look like tiger claws and work very much like a claw with their heavily curved but short blades. The knives are thought to originally come from agricultural implements and eventually were adopted in knives. Fast forward a few hundred years, and a multitude of karambit designs now exist, and like most things with the passage of time, they’ve gotten better.

However, most quality karambits are not exactly carry-friendly. Emerson makes an awesome one…but holy crap, is it huge! It’s like packing a Ka-Bar. Other, more compact models utilize a folding mechanism. Sure, they work, but if I want a karambit, I want a fixed blade model. It strikes a good balance between keeping the tradition of the karambit while maintaining concealability.

The Talon packs a 2.7-inch blade with an overall length of 7.1 inches. The Talon is .175 inches thick, and the handle is .45 inches thick. Talon wasn’t chosen as a name by accident. It’s modeled after the talon of an actual eagle. Since this is America, hell yeah.

In Action

The D2 steel blade is quite sharp and very rugged. D2 steel is a tool steel that’s designed to be functional and incredibly strong. It’s rugged, resistant to corrosion, and tough. Therefore it’s pretty dang good for fighting knives. The Talon holds an edge extremely well, but the tough nature of the steel makes it not so easy to sharpen.

This made the Talon a very capable cutting weapon. It’s pumpkin carving season, so I figured, heck, why not! The Talon pierced the pumpkin with ease and slid right through the thin skin and hard flesh of the pumpkin. Admittedly, I quickly found out that a serrated blade works much better for pumpkin carving, and my hand got tired of forcing the blade through.

Pumpkin carving isn’t the strength of the Talon, but it does cut very well and slices very deep. The Talon did a much better job against raw chicken being sliced up for dinner. The blade ate through the flesh of that poor chicken breast with relative ease. I dragged the blade right through those chicken breasts and turned them into chicken tenders.
My point is, the blade is extremely sharp and very capable. Capable enough to be used as a self-defense weapon.

The Talon For Self Defense

That small blade makes it perfect for basic self-defense slashes. The chance of using a knife for self-defense is very low, and I say that as a guy who lives in a small town where a man used his pocket knife to kill an attacker who ambushed him. However, when it does happen, it’s almost always a super close-range affair.

The short blade is easy to use up close and personal. The karambit design allows you to slice with ease and gives you a weapon that makes the most of slicing. Slicing fast and left to right deals significant damage and is difficult to block. The Talon grants you a tool that can fend off an attacker and create distance between you and him.

That distance can grant you options. Options include allowing you to escape, allowing bystanders to separate you from the attacker, making range to use a firearm, or simply buying time to prepare for your next attack.

Additionally, the big ring around your finger ensures you retain the weapon. It’s tough to drop and easy to retain with it wrapped around your finger. This design also makes it easy to draw without a great grip. Lastly, the ring can act as a quick use improvised impact tool too.

Ergonomics of the Talon

The blade might be small, but the grip is nice and large. It fills my big hands without issue and is very comfortable to grip and use. The thick polymer panels also fill the hand and keep the knife comfortable. Across the top of the blade is a small cut with jimping that allows you to rest your thumb on top of the blade.

This allows you to control the blade as it slices and provides more leverage when your drive the blade through a target. The Talon is also extremely light. Light’s good when it comes to carrying a fixed blade knife. On top of being light, it’s also thin.

Thin is good, and thin helps ensure the weapon remains concealed until it’s time not to be concealed. The included polymer sheath makes it extremely easy to carry the Talon in a multitude of configurations. The belt attachment point can be moved to allow for different carry angles. I prefer a nice straight-up design that’s perfect for an appendix position.

It’s very easy to carry and conceal. The sheath and overall design allow it to disappear on your body. Additionally, the grips are not aggressively serrated or textured, so they won’t rub you raw. Your retention comes from the ring, so the grips do not need a G10 like texture.

I mentioned the grips, and I should also mention they are clear for a purpose besides looking cool. The clear grips allow the knife to better conceal and naturally camouflage itself with your body or clothing.

Slicing and Dicing

The Talon is a slice and dice tool that’s perfect for emergency self-defense. You can swipe, slash, and rip through an opponent, or a chicken breast, with ease. It’s lightweight and very thin, and when paired with its sheath, it disappears on the body. It’s not your normal EDC knife, but you could certainly do normal EDC tasks with it. The Talon is an outstanding knife, and this team-up of 5.11 Tactical and Doug Marcaida is quite fruitful, if I say so myself.

Gunday Brunch 25: Springfield Armory SA-35 discussion

By

David R

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October 31, 2021

In today’s episode of Gunday Brunch, the boys were supposed to talk about NYSRPA vs Bruen being argued before the Supreme Court, but then Caleb’s undiagnosed ADHD took a hold of the conversation and they talked about the new Springfield Armory SA-35 instead. And also weird products at SHOT Show, including the insane and wild Gen2 pistols from Kahr Arms that were never actually produced. But mostly they talked about the Springfield Armory SA-35 Hi-Power

The Rogers Rail Lite – A Cool Concept

By

Travis Pike

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October 30, 2021

Weapon lights have become quite the hotness these days. There was a time where weapon-mounted lights for handguns were isolated to two lights and two lights only, the Streamlight TLR-1 and Surefire X300U. These days a variety of lights have hit the market in a variety of sizes and power levels. Recently I ran across something rather interesting from a company that makes interesting stuff. The Rogers Rail Lite from the Roger Shooting School does weapon lights differently.

The Rogers Rail Lite

The Rogers Rail Lite combines a custom polymer mount with a Streamlight Microstream USB light. The light sits to the left of the rail mount and runs the light along the side of the firearm. The rail mount is universal and can pop on handguns, rifles, shotguns, and basically anything with a rail. While the Rogers Rail Lite can attach to anything with a rail, it certainly seems to work best with a handgun.

Why use a small light on a big gun? coughSurefirecough. Anywho, the design is very simple, and it works very well. Best yet, it costs a mere 40 bucks. The rail mount is a quick detach design but is lever-free. It pops on and off without issue and allows you to attach it on the fly.

The light can go from EDC handheld to weapon light at a moment’s notice. The Streamlight Microstream is essentially a penlight. It’s an amped-up penlight that packs 250 lumens and 1,150 candela. Sure, that’s great for a penlight, but it’s not great for a weapon light.

The beam can light up a small room, but once you get outdoors, the range is very limited. That level of power is tough to swallow, especially in a self-defense situation where more is often better. The concept behind the Rogers Rail Lite is solid, especially for small guns.

Where It Shines

When you go about trying to attach a light to a small gun, you are basically stuck with either using the TLR-7 SUB or the Surefire XSC. Both are more powerful than the Rogers Rail Lite, but they do have a few downsides. Obviously, they make your subcompact bigger and heavier. They require a special holster that’s often more expensive than a standard holster. Even with a WML, you’ll need to carry a separate light for EDC.

With the Rogers Rail Light, you have an EDC light that attaches to your gun without complaint. It does so quickly and allows you to pack a light for both roles. You don’t need a special holster, and your gun stays lightweight and simple for daily carry.

To make the Rogers Rail Light work on small guns, you need to trim the rear tab. Rogers explains this himself on his Youtube channel Doing so isn’t tough, and it’s just polymer. I used a pair of wire cutters to do so. Once trimmed, I could fit it on small guns like the Walther PPS.

I love the idea, especially for small guns, but why not pair the same idea with a slightly larger light? Well, a much larger light? What about a side mounting rail that allows you to use a Surefire X300U or TLR-1? Or a bigger loop for accommodating handhelds that pack more power?

It sounds silly for most guns, but for small guns, you could use a very capable weapon light in a literal click. Additionally, you could still double up and use the light for both EDC purposes. I think it’s a great concept with an underpowered light.

Working With the Rogers Rail Lite

Attaching the light to the gun takes no time or effort at all. Doing so is nothing more than shoving it on and going at it. I appreciate the simplicity and practiced doing so at the range. As long as you aren’t an idiot, you can attach the light without breaking any safety rules or risking blowing off your hand.

Once attached I ran a few drills with a live-fire love. The light clung to the rail without issue, and the little Microstream stood up fine to recoil.

Accessing the light with your thumb isn’t difficult with a thumb’s forward grip. Pressing it and springing it into action wasn’t difficult and made it easy to control. With a bigger light, it might be tougher to control, but I still think the extra power is worth it.

The Rogers Rail Lite and the Microstream USB allow for a constant and momentary mode as well as a low mode that’s a mear 50 lumens. Due to its super-light design, the weapon does remain light and evenly balanced.

A Great Concept

The concept is sound, and I think it could potentially be a solution to allow smaller guns to utilize larger, more powerful lights. Although I think the Microstream is underpowered for a weapon light, I appreciate the idea, and I really appreciate the low price. I hope to see the concept evolve a bit, and it might be the best solution to little guns needing weapon lights.

PHLster’s Enigma just got better

By

Keith Finch

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October 29, 2021

The Enigma Express is a ready to size and carry Enigma already saddled with a holster for several popular carry guns, P365, LCR, J-frame, G43, G48, and G19 among them.

It’s assembled and ready to go. Put it on, size it, dress over it, and go. That’s still the beauty of the Enigma, that it doesn’t rely on dressing around the gun. It doesn’t rely on you picking compatible wardrobe pieces and belt to carry. It does all of that independent of whatever else you are wearing, so wear whatever.

Skip right to the good part and carry concealed and secure with the Enigma Express. Using all of the same technology as the original Enigma, the Express arrives fully pre-assembled and ready to wear with your choice Skeleton or City Special holsters built in. Get all of the freedom and capability of our original Enigma system in one easy to use package. Just put it on, tighten the waist belt with one pull, adjust the leg leash, and you’re ready to get started.

The Express comes with a 48 inch waist strap and is compatible with our Sport Belt Enigma accessories, requiring no tools to swap. And the leg leash accommodates a 36 inch thigh.

STARTING AT ONLY

$148.99

TacStar Shotgun Sights – No Gunsmithing Ghost Rings

By

Travis Pike

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October 29, 2021

Sometimes I just browse through Amazon Warehouse deals for gun stuff and come up lucky. I bought quite a nice under-the-bed safe, a nice Streamlight, and the TacStar shotgun sights for very little money. The TacStar shotgun sights are our subject today. These sights are designed to quick-attach to Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 shotguns without the need for gunsmithing. The rear peep sight installs a lot like a side-saddle, and the front sight installs over your bead sight with a mounting system.

TacStar Shotgun Sights – First Impressions

If I had purchased these for the retail price of 45 bucks, I might have been a bit disappointed. For 18 bucks on Amazon Warehouse deals, I can deal with it. These are made from polymer, which is often okay, but this polymer feels exceptionally cheap. It’s soft; it bends and feels like I’d snap the front sight off as soon as I bounced it off something. Same for the rear sight. If it snagged on something, it feels like it’d break off or bend without much effort.

These sights are not compatible with vent ribs and will not work with anything but a bead sight. They do work with pedestal beads as well.

Installing The Sights

Installation is quite simple. It took very little effort. Attaching the rear sight takes very little effort, and you both punch out two bolts attach the thing over the top of the gun. I ordered the TacStar Shotgun sights for my Mossberg 500, and if you’ve ever attached a side-saddle, you can attach the rear.

The front sight requires you to very carefully align the front sight with the barrel because there is plenty of slack for it to be on slightly sideways. I removed the barrel from my Mossberg 500 to get the install down. Again, it’s not too difficult. It just requires some small adjustments to ensure it’s on straight. It tightens down with a non-marring plastic block, and essentially friction fits over the bead sight.

The front sight allows plenty of room for magazine extensions…if you use the Remington 870. As Mossberg owners know, the Mossberg 500 does accommodate such things with ease. If you have the tactical models with the full-length magazine tube, then the TacStar Shotgun sights won’t fit. However, on the Mossberg, it fits fine with my Steiner Mk7 Shotgun light.

Downsides are obviously you lose the ability to attach a side-saddle. Honestly, the rear sight is a silly design for a Mossberg 500. Mossberg 500s come tapped and ready for an optic’s rail. If I designed this, it would just be a rail section with a built-in rear sight, much like the Aridus Industries mounts.

It’s easier to install, would leave room for a side-saddle, and allow you to use optics with a cowitness rear sight. I couldn’t imagine a polymer rail with a rear sight costing any more than this design.

To The Range

With the TacStar shotgun sights installed, I went to the range with a variety of buckshot, slugs, and birdshot loads. I wanted to really push these sights to the limit with recoil, heavy-duty recoil, and heat. One thing I do like is that the rear sight is adjustable. It can move up and down as well as from left to right. The bolt and fastener attaching it to the base is essentially an M-LOK design.

To adjust the sight, you loosen it and move it in the direction you need to make your adjustments. It’s super rudimentary, and there is no each click equals half an MOA. It’s just move the sight this way and that and see if it works. There are these small ribs that make it a little bit more precise than pure guesswork, but there is no way to tell how much jumping each rib equals.

To my shock, it worked and worked fine. I ‘zeroed’ the TacStar shotgun sights to my buckshot load at 15 yards. Obviously, for buckshot, it’s simple and not necessarily needed for lots of precision. I took the gun back to 50 yards and used a bench to zero the sights for slugs. In five slugs, I was landing then perfectly into the black of a B-8.

Once zeroed, I wanted to subject it to rapid-fire recoil and heat. Shotgun barrels get hot, and these guns buck and kick. I ran through a variety of loading drills, snap drills, and more with my setup. The barrel got too hot to touch, but the front sight stayed put.

After blasting through 25 rounds of buckshot, 100 rounds of birdshot, and ten slugs, I went back to 50 yards and reconfirmed my zero. The TacStar shotgun sights held zero. Color me surprised.

Duty Worthy?

Oh, hell no. These things are way too cheap and fragile feeling for duty use of any kind. While the friction fit front sight worked, I would want to toss it into a gunfight and trust that my buckshot was going wherever I sent it. Honestly, I wouldn’t use it for home defense either for the same reason. So what’s the point?

Well, if I wanted a quick and easy way to add sights for slug use during hunting season, this would be it. Slugs work with bead sights but work better with some form of rear sight. The TacStar shotgun sights would work well in that role and are easy enough to install and pop off that you can swap to buckshot and slugs without issue.

They aren’t war-ready, but if you catch them on a deal, they can be fun to tinker with or to make your beaded sight smoothbore a bit more slug-friendly.

‘ABC News: Why the Second Amendment may be losing relevance in gun debate ‘

By

Keith Finch

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October 29, 2021

Unlike their terrible article on the AR-15, Libby Cathey has a far more informative piece on the 2nd Amendment on ABC today.

Why the Second Amendment may be losing relevance in gun debate

It’s a bit of a misnomer title, but her points are poignant within. The crux of the argument is that the 2nd Amendment itself, doesn’t actually come under legal fire and debate all that often. It is referenced rhetorically constantly, but it in a legal sense is very rarely cited compared to all the other laws dealing with firearms.

State laws are usually the focus, state laws have been used and continue to be used to bolster the simple message of the 2nd Amendment, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

There are a couple points she hits on that I fundamentally disagree with, the first being that the 2nd Amendment didn’t mean an individual right to arms until 2008. That is false, the 2nd Amendment did and that is why Heller was decided. The 2nd Amendment, like the Bill of Rights as a whole, are a list prohibitions on government and an outline of government’s duties. It is not a list of allowances to the people, the people are allowed anything and everything not expressly prohibited or outlined as a function of government. So Heller didn’t say, ‘Starting in 2008 the right of individuals to bear arms is now part of the 2nd Amendment’ it said that a law that the Supreme Court looked at in 2008 violated the constitutional rights of those the law was being applied to. The right existed before, during, and after, but the law was infringing upon it.

The states are also charged with governing it that same framework. This is what Cathey calls ‘Legal’ vs the ‘Judicial’ 2nd Amendments. In short, what the text of the constitution says vs what courts have actually backed with case law.

A similar and contrasting situation is the 2nd Amendment sanctuary movement. Where smaller units of government are prohibiting interference, by law, to larger units of government in firearms law. It is to this point only a theoretical conflict as no state or local unit has gone to the judicial mat against the federal government.

Why is ABC running this now?

My guess is that they expect the Supreme Court to crush the New York ‘May Issue’ permitting system, and thus crush it for the remaining states who use it. The tone of the piece(s), not surprising from Disney owned ABC, is trending neutrally uninformed instead of rabidly anti-gun. Guns aren’t a big piece of their fights, but they are a national issue and in the violent hot spots of the nation violence surged through 2020 and 2021. That makes them informationally relevant at the least.

Among the many issues where the nation is evolving its stances, like dealing with marijuana or dealing with shoplifting, is having an influence in often very partisan directions with fairly predictable results. You decriminalize shoplifting under $950, ban descriptions of suspects because it is prejudicial (somehow), and publicly announce both of those… You have defacto made theft permissible.

Not legal. Permissible. Marijuana is still not federally legal, but across the nation it is essentially permissible in 2021 and that in practical matters is the same thing. Until it isn’t in a courtroom. Removing the 2nd Amendment, making it irrelevant today, sets up a future anti-gun victory in a courtroom.

I suspect ABC is, primarily, setting up an avenue to run criticism of the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, whose opening arguments start Wednesday.

This is simultaneously an attempt to inform their reader base, something I support, combined with building a base to level the criticism when a likely 6-3 result returns. That result likely turning New York into a shall issue state and requiring them to have criteria independent of bureaucratic discretion for issuing carry licenses and a timeframe they are to be held accountable to.

That, by the way, is the standard in most states. Meeting objective criteria instead of a subjective state decision worded in a manner suggesting an individual must prove a greater than general need for protection in order to carry a firearm. These laws requiring ‘demonstrable need’ have always been prejudicial and biased against the petitioner, unless they had a relationship with the authority issuing the decision. The authority could use their complete discretion and opinion on the issuance of licenses and a petitioner for a license had no mode of redress. The authority’s opinion was all that was legally necessary.

Under a shall issue system the onus for proof is on the state, not the petitioner, the state must prove instead of just decide that a petitioner does not meet the requirements for licensure.

An additional problem is that an above average demonstrable need often takes one of two forms, professional or immediate threat.

For the professional, your line of work would indicate the increased risk to your person. Jewelry shop owner, armed truck personnel, licensed security service professional, etc. These are individuals in a profession with a higher risk of confrontation, yes, and authorizing their carriage of a protective firearm is logical. It is the second part, the immediate or imminent threat of harm to one’s person, where the policy falls completely apart. Waiting for a bureaucrat to decide whether or not you are allowed to protect your life because you have received a credible threat against it is a form of mental torture I cannot, and thankfully have not, had to fathom. Imagine someone you met for a few minutes in a courtroom, where they have a bunch of decisions to make before you and after you leave, deciding whether you have a legal level playing field at living through a threat. That is the reality in New York.

The odd conclusion…

The point of Cathey’s piece is that the 2nd Amendment isn’t needed anymore because we have those other laws to rely on.

The danger, obviously, is that the Constitution is the law, so removing the foundational law on arms could be catastrophic for lesser laws continuation. The law that can be relied upon in a court, and not changed on a whim of the next legislature to something new, bolsters the additional written protections which people are actively trying to remove whenever they see the opportunity. The 2A adds a permanency to the right of arms and self defense that has been under assault for most of the 20th and 21st centuries, which is why the additional laws were passed to protect and define limits more distinctly.

The problem with Cathey’s argument is the complete disregard of the simple phrase, “Shall not be infringed” or defined as to ‘act so as to limit or undermine’ which has actively been argued as the basis for the political ‘all gun laws are infringements’ argument.

Cathey’s argument relies on the fact that we have allowed infringements, therefore we should continue to allow infringements because it meets the ‘Judicial 2A’ standard. It is irrelevant, from a legal standpoint, that a law violates what ‘shall not be infringed’ means in plain english, only that it has not been hammered across that way in a court.

Because courts never make mistakes… I guess?

The best OWB holsters for fall carry

By

Caleb Giddings

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October 28, 2021

Fall is upon us! While for some people that means pumpkin spice flavored everything and putting leaves in the middle of your table, for us it means big guns carried OWB under jackets and hoodies. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the best OWB holsters for fall concealed carry.

The Pumpkin Spice: Basic Kydex pancake

Pictured above is the basic bitch of fall OWB holsters: a kydex pancake. Originally popularized by the Raven Concealment Phantom, the recipe for this is just as basic as the people who love it. Take two sheets of kydex, form them to a gun’s shape, and rivet them together. Then on the backside add some kydex loops to wind your belt through, and you’re done. Just like a pumpkin spice latte it’s predictable, formulaic, and pretty much the same regardless of where you get it from. True statement: I own the holster pictured and have no idea who made it.

The Tasteful Fall Table Setting: JM Custom Kydex OWB 2

We get it, you love fall but you think you’re better than people who like pumpkin spice everything. That doesn’t stop you from being ALMOST as basic, but instead of expressing it through your coffee you get a bunch of leaves and things from outside (trash, you got trash) and create a custom table setting. But you can spice up your OWB holsters just like you did your table!

Does it look awesome? Yes it absolutely does. It’s not really more functional than the basic pumpkin spice. But, you feel cooler because it looks cooler. And it really does look cooler, because the guys at JM Custom Kydex will make a holster like this in a multitude of colors. Personally, I like red, which isn’t really a fall color. It’s more of a Christmas color, but you have options when you order from JM Custom. This holster has excellent retention while also being easy to conceal under a jacket or vest.

The perfect fall cocktail

Nothing tops a nice cocktail in the fall, and my favorite cool weather cocktail is a timeless classic: the Manhattan. Similarly, the perfect fall weather OWB holsters are the Galco Combat Master lineup. Similar to the Combat Master, and also acceptable in this category are the DeSantis Speed Scabbard and the Milt Sparks 60TK. A holster like this says a lot of things. It says “I have class and taste,” and it also says “I’m probably carrying a 1911 or a revolver.” It also says you’re not using a red dot sight, because none of these holsters are compatible with dot equipped pistols. But who cares, right? If you’re rocking a classic piece of leather or a classic cocktail, no one is going to tell you that you have bad taste.

Hopefully everyone has a great fall and enjoys the freedom to carry bigger guns in more comfortable positions!

Kimber’s R7 Mako

By

BullShooters

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October 28, 2021

Kimber had to get in on the latest handgun craze–the micro-compact double-stack category that was created by Sig in an attempt to make the perfect all-around carry gun. Now the market is flooded with guns from nearly every manufacturer.

Now that list includes Kimber.

When he first heard about Kimber’s entrance with its R7 Mako, JJ figured it would be a 1911 style, steel micro with a double stack mag, or something similar. But he was wrong.

It’s a polymer, striker-fired gun that weighs 19.5 ounces–much like the others. But Kimber engineers had the benefit of viewing the features of other guns and improving upon them. And that’s exactly what they did.

Most surprisingly, the R7 doesn’t cost $1200 like most other Kimbers. Rather, it’s more in line with upper-end pistols of the category. In sum, it’s one of, if not THE, best pure carry guns available today.

To find out why, see the full video.

The Amend2 S300 P320 Grip Module

By

Travis Pike

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October 28, 2021

The P320 series started a revolution regarding modular firearms, well, at least for handguns. The SIG P250 started this whole FCU system, but that gun was a flop by timing. The P320 propelled it into the mainstream. SIG produces tons of different grip modules, triggers, slides, and more, but the aftermarket has also taken its turn at producing a wide aftermarket for the gun. Today we are looking at an aftermarket grip module known as the S300 grip module from Amend2.

Amend2 is mostly known for making magazines for the AR and Glock series rifles and pistols. The S300 first popped up at SHOT Show 2020, and as we all know, a few short months later, the world stopped. They planned to release the grip module in 2020, but I’m sure they ran into plenty of issues during the covid-craziness. I followed the S300 production, and as soon as Amend2 emailed me, I jumped on purchasing one.

The S300 – What It Does

I guess I’ve gotten a bit ahead of myself. The S300 is a new, aftermarket P320 grip module that allows your P320 to utilize P365 magazines. Since both guns have been extremely successful, it’s easy to see why Amend2 chose the P365 magazines. They are common, feature highly efficient capacities, and allow for a much smaller grip.

Moving between a P320 grip module to the S300 takes no time at al. Pop out the FCU, insert the FCU into the S300, and you’re done. Amend2 includes the magazine release, which is nice because swapping that back and forth is a real hassle. Once the FCU is in place, toss on your P320 slide, and you are ready to rock and roll.

Why?

Well, first and foremost, it makes your P320 easier to conceal. The S300 grip module is short and sweet and turns your P320 into a subcompact pistol frame-wise. I’m using a P320C slide, and it makes the weapon much easier to conceal, especially for IWB carry. It’s much smaller than the subcompact P320 grip module and with a longer slide that combines better ballistics, a longer sight radius, and more control with a more concealable frame.

The use of P320 magazines still allows you to maintain a decent capacity magazine. The S300 fits all the standard magazines, including the flush-fitting ten rounders for maximum concealment. I use the P365 twelve-round magazines with the MagGut +2 spring, so I get 14 rounds in a very small package.

On top of that, you can use the larger accessories you can use with the P320. For me, this includes my massive windowed SIG ROMEO1PRO mini red dot sight. The S300 has a nice Picatinny rail to accommodate weapon lights as well.

Are you worried about holsters? Don’t be. You can use all your standard P320 holsters. Well, it might have issues with light-bearing duty models and retention rigs, but this is a rig unlikely to find its way into those holsters.

Lastly, it’s surprisingly affordable. It’s only 60 bucks, and it’s made in the United States by a small American company. Not bad, plus it offers something no one else is at this time. Once someone figures out how to use Glock mags in P320s, they might be in trouble.

The S300 At The Range

Shrinking a gun’s grip makes it a little harder to hold onto, admittedly. The grip has a hanging pinky with the ten-round flush-fit magazine. With the 12 round slightly extended magazine, I have just enough room for a whole hand grip. It’s not as good as a standard P320C grip, but it’s more than useable. That’s the trade-off with a smaller gun.

The S300 grip texture is very P365 like and even matches the slightly textured magazine extension rather well. It’s good enough to keep your grip gripped without issue. A little 9mm ain’t going to dislodge your hand from the grip. I can maintain excellent accuracy, especially with an optic in place with just a slight sacrifice in control.

Your reloads might be a little slower, or at least mine are. My pinky pins in the magazine when I hit the magazine release. It doesn’t drop free unless I undo my grip a bit. Then I can commit my reload, reassume my grip, and get on target. It’s admittedly slower than dropping, reloading, and getting back at it. Again, it’s another slight compromise with a smaller gun. It’s not unique to the S300, and I have the same issue with the P365 and Hellcat.

Reliability wasn’t impacted in any way, and I went through a few hundred rounds without issue. Both the slide and grip module proved to be easy to use and provided no particular difficulty. Everything worked as it should without issue.

Making it Small

The combination of the S300 grip module and the P320C slide makes an odd-looking but effective concealed carry weapon. SIG should’ve seen the potential and tackled this themselves. I hope to see the P320 aftermarket grow in this direction and make the weapon even more modular as time passes.