Category: Weapons

Gun Show Tips and Tricks, by Prepper Ray

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By now, many of you reading this should have attended a few gun shows. If not, you should go to one. All across the country these shows are meccas for shooting enthusiasts, survivalists, and gun collectors. Gun shows are great places to pick up items that you just can’t find anywhere else. But be warned, you won’t always get the best deal at a gun show unless you have the right tools and information before arriving at the show. Here are a few tips and hints along with a little insider information so that you can get the most out …


Letter: What You “Learn” Can Kill You

HJL, My name is Mark and I’m a Prepper. Sounds faintly like how you’d introduce yourself at an AA meeting, but even though I’m afflicted by the Prepping bug it’s not a disease like most of America would want you to think. Most of my family years ago were farmers and poor backwoods people. So prepping was the only way to survive the harsh winters after the short growing seasons. I fell into it easily being raised to hunt and raise a garden. When the last administration was installed in 2009 I saw what was happening. And being former military, …


Letter: A First-Hand Perspective on Europe’s Immigration Crisis

Hugh, My wife and I have just returned from a two week vacation that I had planned long ago to Hungary, Austria, and a bit of Germany. I’m not sure how great the coverage of this was in the U.S., but I would like to give the readers a briefing. Upon arriving in Vienna, we discovered that our train to Budapest had been cancelled. One look around the Westbahnhof train station revealed literally thousands of immigrants. Rail officials could do little to offer suggestions as to what to do. It was up to us to find our way out. We …


Case Preparation: A Building Block for High Quality Reloads, by T.L.W.

Author’s Introductory Disclaimer: I am not a professional reloader. College degrees have only taken me so far into reloading for personal use and formal education cannot replace personal study, experience and common sense–probably true of just about everything these days. Reloading can be dangerous and expose you to toxic metals and chemicals, so please take precautions when dealing with them. The steps below are for informational purposes and are meant to add to the growing conversation on loading your own ammunition in good times and bad. Please use caution at all times! This discussion will center on case preparation to …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: GLOCK 43 9mm Subcompact

Back in 1987, while living in Colorado Springs, CO, I used to haunt Longs Drugs. It was a huge drug store chain that carried a pretty good selection of handguns, and plenty of ammo was available, too. I only recall purchasing a couple of firearms from them. The first one was a new GLOCK 17 9mm with a 17-rd magazine, which was unheard of, for the most part, back then. Most 9mm handguns had a 15-rd capacity, and then there was that “plastic” frame. Everyone back then just knew that you could sneak a plastic framed handgun on a plane. …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review – SIG Sauer P320 .45ACP

It’s hard not to like any handgun chambered in .45ACP, with a few exceptions. I cut my teeth on a 1911 .45ACP and have owned hundreds over the years. There are some I really regret selling or trading, too. While on the Illinois National Guard Rifle and Pistol Team, back in the early 1970s, I was issued a match grade M-14, as well as a match grade 1911with all the ammo I wanted. (You’d better believe I took full advantage of that, too.) I had .50 caliber ammo cans stacked high in my bedroom. However, most of the matches we …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: BearOps Rancor Folder

BearOps is a division of Bear & Son Cutlery and is an up and coming cutlery business. BearOps is producing tactical-types of cutlery, whereas, Bear & Son, produces some more traditional cutlery. When Tom Ables, who handles the PR from Bear, contacted me with a press release on the BearOps “Rancor” folder, I placed an order for one right away. The Rancor isn’t just a tactical folder; I also consider it a gentleman’s folder. Over the years, I’ve been accused of a lot of things but rarely has anyone, other than my own wife, called me a gentleman. Still, I …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Cold Steel/Rawles Voyager Limited Edition

Disclaimer: Neither Jim Rawles or Hugh J. Latimer asked me to do this article, nor did Lynn Thompson from Cold Steel. I received an e-mail flyer on this limited edition folder and requested a sample for review. No one involved in this project, including myself, are profiting from the sale of this folding knife. All proceeds are going to charity! ————— The Cold Steel Voyager folder is one of the best-selling folders in the Cold Steel stable of knives. It’s always in demand. I really like the Tri-Ad locking mechanism on this line of folders. It’s super strong, to be …


Letter Re: Scot’s Product Review: Burris 2-7xx32mm Handgun Scope on the Mexican Mauser

Good morning, Hugh, In reading Scot’s excellent review of the Burris 2-7X Extended Eye Relief rifle scope he mentioned using a ballistics program to determine a 200 yard zero which would also allow hits within four inches of point of aim at 250 yards. Inadvertently, I think, Scot broached the topic of Point Blank Range with that sentence. If one watches movies and television dramas, one probably believes Point Blank Range to be several inches to a few feet in front of a firearm’s muzzle. It is not. The definition of Point Blank Range is: “The maximum distance at which …


Letter Re: Cold Steel Voyager-JWR Edition

Hugh and Capt. Rawles, I’ve been following SB.com for about three years now after reading How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It. That book and others opened me up to the insanity surrounding us, and I suddenly felt sadly under-prepared. Since then I’ve trolled the web, bookstores, and gun shows for tools to help me protect my family. My enthusiasm can probably be attributed to wanting to ensure my two little girls never have to suffer through the times depicted in Jim’s works of fiction. I have held out, for the most part, from purchasing …


Scot’s Product Review: Burris 2-7xx32mm Handgun Scope on the Mexican Mauser

I have long been a fan of Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper and his Scout rifle concept. It’s not the best tool for every application of the rifle, but his idea was to create a general purpose answer to the problem of striking a decisive blow on an animal up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) at any distance the shooter could place a bullet into the vitals of said animal. He further specified that it should be handy and defined it as being one meter (about 40 inches) long and three kilograms (a bit less than seven pounds) in weight unloaded …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: CZ Scorpion Handgun

Some many months back, I viewed a video on YouTube about the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1 handgun. (That’s quite a mouthful, so we’ll just call it the CZ Scorpion.) I was really impressed with the video testing the CZ Scorpion. I’ve had some other semi-auto only versions of full-auto sub guns in the past, and most didn’t impress me. They were just too bulky, or they flat out weren’t reliable. However, there was just “something” about the CZ Scorpion that caught my attention when I watched that video. So, I kept a watchful eye out for one at my …


Scot’s Product Review: Liberty Suppressors Mystic X

I am unsure when the term “force multiplier” came into use, but unlike many trendy phrases I think it is a good one. The concept is a military one, but it is useful in any endeavor. The basic idea is that we find something that makes us more effective than our competition whether in business, sports or combat. A force multiplier can be having more knowledge, better tools, strategy, or tactics or the ability to deceive. Another term for force multiplication might be competitive edge. A force multiplier can allow an apparently weaker opponent to triumph in the end over …


Benchmade’s Model 665 – By Pat Cascio

Having toured the Benchmade Knives factory several times over the years, one thing that has always struck me about it is how clean it is. I mean their plant is super clean. How they manage to keep the place “that” clean while operating several shifts is beyond me. Additionally, it is pretty darn quiet in the Benchmade plant. I was amazed some years ago when I watched the laser cut knife blanks in almost total silence; it was amazing to watch the laser slice through the sheets of steel. The one problem Benchmade has is that they have a difficult …


Letter Re: Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Kahr Arms CM40

HJL, I just want to thank Pat for his reviews especially on the small conceal carry type of pistols. Unfortunately, the review on the Kahr Arms CM40 came a little late for me personally. About a month ago I went to a gun show specifically looking for a small frame 9mm for conceal carry purposes. I had researched several specific brands in a low price range, such as the Taurus PT111, and the Taurus PT-709, the Kel-Tec PF9, and the Ruger LC9. I even read Pat’s LC9 review that he posted here some time ago. My thought was to get …