Category: Review

Ruger American Compact .45 ACP , by Pat Cascio

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I’m a big fan of the .45 ACP cartridge. The “official” FBI tests show that there isn’t a lick of difference between the 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP rounds – when loaded with high-performance JHP ammo, when it comes to stopping power. But I refuse to believe that those three rounds are all pretty much the same when it comes to stopping a deadly encounter. I do a lot of shooting, and I mean a lot of shooting for my articles, as well as for target practice, tactical shooting and just plain ol’ fun shooting. If there is one …


Taurus G2C and G2S, by Pat Cascio

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A quick test: Who is the largest maker of handguns in the free world? Nope, you’re wrong if you guessed anyone except Taurus Firearms. Most people would have probably guessed Ruger, Smith & Wesson, SIG-Sauer, or take your pick. However, Taurus produces more handguns than any other gun company in the world. Then we have the gun buyers who complain that Taurus doesn’t produce good or reliable firearms – and they would be wrong, once again. Look, every gun maker, no matter how good of a company they are, has some “lemons” sneak out the door – it just happens …


Glock Model 45, by Pat Cascio

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Just as I reached the back of the gun shop that I haunt, one of the owners, Mark, reached into the display case, and asked me: “Have you seen the new Glock forty-five?” Before I could even answer, it was in my hands, and I liked it – a lot. Wow! A single-stack Glock in .45 ACP, and it feels sooo good…” Boy, what I wrong, I should have known better – you can’t tell what a Glock is by the model numbers they assigned to their handguns. I admit that I don’t keep up with all the latest firearms …


Ruger Officer-Style SR1911, by Pat Cascio

Anyone who has followed my articles for the past 28 years, will surely know that I have a love affair with 1911-style handguns – all of them, in all sizes and calibers. I still prefer a 1911 in .45 ACP over any other calibers, but I’ve owned them in 9mm, .38 Super, .40 S&W, 10mm, and a few others. The latest FBI findings state that the 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP calibers are all about the same when it comes to stopping power – I just don’t buy into that. I’m not going to believe that a 9mm – …


Six Wristwatches for Survivalists, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve always been a real stickler for being on-time, for everything – and I’ve been wearing a watch since I was a child. I believe I can count on one hand, the number of times I’ve ever been late for work, and at that, there was usually a good reason for being late. At that, my tardiness was only a few minutes being late from my scheduled starting time, with one exception. Back in 1976, I was briefly driving a dump truck for a living. The prior evening, some buddies and I went out drinking – I stopped drinking shortly …


Range Report: Browning BAR Mk3 in .243 – Part 3, by The Novice

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(Continued from Part 2.  This concludes the article.) Johnny Come Lately Two weeks after the scope arrived, and one week after the rings I ordered from Amazon arrived, a package was delivered from Leupold with the Quick Release Rings to match the Quick Release Mounts they had sent with the scope. They must have belatedly noticed their omission. I appreciated the gesture of sending the rings. Better late than never. But I was quite happy with the rings I had bought from Amazon, so I just left things well enough alone. The Remington 742 Next, I tuned up my Remington …


Range Report: Browning BAR Mk3 in .243 – Part 2, by The Novice

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(Continued from Part 1.) The First Cleaning About a week later, the muzzle guard arrived, and I settled down to clean the gun. There was even more rust preventative compound in the barrel and on the other steel parts than I had initially noticed. The bore required extensive scrubbing using kerosene as a solvent before a patch finally came out clean. In the process I spilled my bottle of kerosene on the kitchen table, filling the room with fumes. This created a dramatic scene that disturbed the domestic tranquility for a time. Fortunately, the finish on the table was not …


Range Report: Browning BAR Mk3 in .243 – Part 1, by The Novice

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For many years, my go-to deer rifle has been a venerable Remington Model 742 in .30-06 that I inherited from my father. Over the course of time, I became a little venerable myself. As I aged, the old 742 began to kick a lot harder than it used to. Some would say that this is due to global warming, but I have a different theory. In any case, during my last extended range session with the 742, my shoulder got pretty sore. It hurt so much that I dreaded pulling the trigger, and eventually cut the range session short. I …


Kershaw 7350 Claw Automatic, by Pat Cascio

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As a rule, I’m not a big fan of little knives – I’ve found, that for my needs, a require a bigger folding knife for my everyday use. However, this isn’t a hard-fast rule – there are some small folding knives that I like. My oldest daughter, when she was only about 3 or 4 years of age, gave me a very small folding knife, that I still have and use every now and then, the blade is only about an inch long, and on the opposite side of the handle is a file blade – that has been used …


Star BM 9mm Pistol, by Pat Cascio

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I’m a fan of military surplus firearms, of all kinds – unfortunately, there aren’t too many in my meager gun collection. Once again, everyone believes that because I’m a writer – mostly about firearms and knives, that I have a huge collection. But in fact I don’t. I can’t afford all of the guns I’d love to have, so I’m a habitual gun trader. My local FFL dealer recently purchased two huge gun collections, and they obtained quite a few M1 Garands and M1 Carbines in these collections. I’d love to own one of each, especially since those are in …


Glock 43X Pistol, by Pat Cascio

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To start out this review of the Glock 43X, let me first mention another Glock pistol: I love my Glock 26, and it is my usual everyday carry piece, with a spare magazine on the opposite hip. About the only time I’m not carrying my Glock 26, is when I’m testing other handguns for articles. However, I always switch back to my 26, at the end of my testing period – it just seems to fit me perfectly. The 26 came with several 10-round magazines, and they have a flat base on them. I don’t care for that, because it …


Smith & Wesson Shield M2.0, by Pat Cascio

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I’m not going to make any bones about it, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool, 1911 fan. No matter what size, or who makes them. And I love my Glocks – I haven’t found one that I don’t especially like. I still remember getting my first Glock 17, back when I lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the mid-to-late 1980s. I believe I got my Glock 17 in 1987. I actually went to the Long’s Drugs store there, and they carried a nice selection of handguns at the time. I was planning on buying a  Model 1911 in .45 ACP. However, when I got there, …


Buck Ground Combat Knives, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve had my Buck Knives Ground Combat fixed blade knives for a month and a half now, and wanted to give them a good workout before writing about them. However, this isn’t always the case with many other writers and websites. Many of these writers simply took the Buck press release, that was sent to them – I got it, too – and wrote their articles based on that piece of paper, without ever actually having the knives in-hand to test. As an aside: One big-name knife company – that I won’t mention by name – once had a new …


Ruger American Compact 9mm LEO, by Pat Cascio

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As I’ve said many times before, Ruger produces firearms to match the budget of blue-collar workers. However, that’s not to say, they aren’t suitable for anyone – they are. Ruger produces some of the most over-built firearms in the world, and that’s a good thing in my feeble mind. I like the fact that, Ruger firearms are not over-priced, not in the least, and you can usually find them for a lot less than retail, if you shop around – again, that’s a good thing. Ruger had a rough start, when they attempted to come out with their first center-fire …


Work Sharp Bench Stone, by Pat Cascio

5

I’ve been around knives all my life – ever since owning my first one, at about age 5 or 6. So I know a little bit about cutlery. Over the past 28 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to test hundreds of new knife designs — and perhaps more than a thousand new designs. I’ve lost count. It’s exciting to get new knife designs to test and write about – no doubt about that. And, just when I think I’ve seen it all, when it comes to cutlery, someone comes out with a new design, or new locking mechanism, or new …