One of the best tactical shotguns out there is also the most over looked. The tactical shotgun market has become very crowded as of late. Everyone that does shotguns is now doing Tactical versions… and this is a beautiful thing.
The downside to the crowded market is that most attention is only paid to the newest, latest and greatest. Which is fine… save for the old standby workhorses that get ignored too often.
The movie “Knight and Day”: One of the more interesting selections of guns for a cheesy action comedy. The Tom Cruise character”Roy” is packing a SIG P250. The first time I’ve seen that gun in a movie. He’s got a light and laser combo on the gun, which is cool, but not something people normally back concealed. Especially when later he pulls out a Glock 19. I’m not sure if a SIG P250 is the ideal weapon for firing from the hood of a Lincoln… but I think the Glock would have been a better choice. Perhaps. I’m not sure. I’ve never had to engage threats while riding on the hood of a Lincoln.
One of The Horde has asked for a Top 5 1911 list. This is difficult, because saying 1911 is like saying Pickup Truck. There are different types, classes of truck. Class wasn’t specified. So this is going to be an overall pick, cross classes.
1. Springfield TRP
2. SIG 1911 TacOps
3. Dan Wesson V-Bob
4. STI Ranger II
5. Springfield 1911 GI
Three of the five selections are full sized, 5” guns. The other two are Commander length guns. There are no three inch guns on my list for a reason. The smaller sized guns get more finicky in terms of reliability and for me, that’s a huge disqualification. The full size and the Commander length guns are where it’s at.
If I was going to pick a few more, the other guns on my list would be the guns in the Colt CCO type configuration with a Commander length barrel and slide on an Officer’s length frame. Such as the SIG C3 and RCS. Both would make the list for sure. Also, if I had another spot, I’d have to put an STI Tactical 4.15, which would also be the only double stacked 1911 on this list, and the only one in 9mm.
If I was going to pick something on the more Budge Minded level, the options are fewer, but some stand out. The pistols from ATI have a strong showing with tolerances on par with guns that cost 3 times as much. The newish Remington R1 is a nice pistol, if you can find one. The Para GI Expert is a very similar gun at a similar price point, and it’s a good one. Then there are the guns from Taurus which are solid values and surprisingly good shooters.
Notice I am not talking about the Semi-Custom Production guns from makers such as Wilson Combat, Les Baer, and Ed Brown. They are certainly good, but the cost level is puts them far and away above the reach of a lot of shooters, without a drastic or tangible increase in returns for the money.
North American Arms has really slammed a home run with the Ranger.
It’s finally an NAA Mini that you can pop open and empty the brass with one hand, and then use the other hand to quickly feed the new rounds in. We are talking about a 4 second reload.
If NAA made some sort of mini speed-loader – that would be wicked cool. Kind of pointless, but still, very cool.
I would like to see a version of the Ranger with a longer barrel, but as it sits, this is the world’s coolest .22 Mag.
ToddG from Pistol-Training.com knocked it out of the park. This is well said.
I look at the 1911 much like Muscle Car. You can buy faster modern cars, but they just don’t have the class and style that a classic muscle car has.
As much as I love my G23RTF2, it doesn’t evoke the romance and the passion that my 1911’s inspire.
The 1911 is for the Aficionado and the Professional. It’s not for the rank and file foot-soldier. Yes, there is an Elitist aspect to it.
GOTTA LOVE IT!
A lot of shooters are going to the 20 gauge for home defense. And thats fine. It’s a shotgun and it’s not a .410, so that’s a good thing. What I find troubling though is that many of these shooters are doing it because they think 12 gauge is too much gun for them… that they cant handle the 12.
This is unfortunate. I took my 11 year old son out shooting, and he rocked one of my Remington 870 Tactical shotguns. He had no problem cycling the action, handling the recoil… He had no problem with a 12 gauge. Sure, he is the Son Of The Ogre… and he walks with large steps… but he’s still an 11 year old kid.
In the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade we see a lot of Gimmicks. Some of them look like gimmicks but are actually quite handy for certain specific tasks… while others look like they could be handy, but are actually really useless. The king of useless has to be the most persistent one.
I first heard of this guy way back in the very early days of “The Firing Line”. This gimmick was laughed off the board pretty quickly. He’s popped up now and again, here and there over the years… insisting that he has the true light and knowledge.
I don’t know his name, but I’ll call him “Finger Shelf Guy.” He emailed me asking for a link and I was nice to him, saying that this is counter to what I teach so I can’t do that. The guy bows out and I don’t hear from him again for a week. Then all the sudden he shows up on WETHEARMED with an all new video about how great the finger shelf is and how everyone else is wrong. Here’s the thread. Enjoy.
Shout-out to Glock Talk. Howdy fellas. Thanks for the hits. Just so you know…
On my hip right now is a Glock 23 RTF2 modified with Warren Tactical night sights, 3.5# Disconnecter and the NY1 Spring, riding in a Sharkhide custom holster from Adams Holsters. Carry loads are Winchester PDX1 JHPs. Backing that up are two G22 mags, one loaded with more PDX1’s and the other with 135 grain Cor Bon’s… namely because I ran out of PDX1’s because I’ve a bad habit of killing prairie dogs with my carry loads.
So, thanks for the kind words. They are appreciated. Cheers!
Why I hate the M-16/AR-15 Rifle and variants.
When joined the Army and was issued my first M-16, I thought it was the deadliest rifle ever invented. It was the blackest, most evil looking thing ever. It was pure badass. I was in love… sure, I had jams here and there but that was due to the dirty blank ammunition, right? I cleaned my rifle to the point of “surgical instrument clean” and lubed it exactingly according to the gospel of my Drill Sergeants. When I went to fire it with live rounds and found that I would get an occasional jam. Well, this is because it was an old rifle used by hundreds of raw ignorant recruits like myself. Right?
