Not all handguns achieve the status of icon. Interestingly, the two most successful iconic handguns both came from Colt. They are the 1873 Peacemaker revolver and the 1911 semi-auto pistol. Both have stayed in production worldwide for well over 100 years with early models commanding impressive prices in the collectors’ market. …

Last year, Walther Arms launched the Q5 Match series of 9 mm Luger pistols. The polymer-frame version, simply called the Q5 Match, was designed to meet customer requests for a tricked-out competition gun based on the duty-size PPQ pistol. The comfortable grip frame was left unaltered, but the slide was lengthened to …

This article, “Ruger’s Most Shootable Sixgun,” appeared originally in the September 2003 issue of American Rifleman. To subscribe to the magazine, visit the NRA membership page here and select American Rifleman as your member magazine. The plain facts of the Ruger Bisley’s introduction to the American shooting public are well-known. It came along in 1986, a variation of the New Model …

I had just returned from my first out-of-country hunting trip; my Dad and I had hunted moose in Quebec among those willow bogs and innumerable lakes, and though we came home empty-handed, it was life changing. I had but one serious big game rifle at the time—a Ruger Model 77 MKII in …

In the past, attaching a red-dot optic to the slide of your handgun was inconvenient and expensive, a novelty of custom gunsmithing rather something you could purchase standard from the factory. That all changed several years ago with the advent of the optics-ready handgun—something Glock perfected with the Modular Optics System …

This article, “The Magpul Story,” appeared originally in the September 2015 issue of American Rifleman. To subscribe to the magazine, visit the NRA membership page here and select American Rifleman as your member magazine. Richard Fitzpatrick was serving with Alpha Company, 3rd Recon Battalion in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 when he first started thinking about reinventing a …

It’s not uncommon for good folks who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights to find themselves with limited financial resources to spend on shooting equipment. For newlyweds, those saving up for school or individuals challenged with “re-employment opportunities,” the price tag attached to a firearm might be its most …

For several decades prior to the adoption of the Model 1903 Springfield rifle, the U.S. Army issued its U.S. Cavalry a carbine version of the standard U.S. Infantry rifle. The last official U.S. military carbine based on the standard infantry rifle was the Model 1899 .30-40 Krag, which had a …

Earlier this year, in a ruling of first impression in Washington State, the Kitsap County District Court decided that the state’s compulsory “firearm surrender” laws violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and the analogous provisions in the state constitution. “In our constitutional system of government, individuals have rights that the …

Just like any other defensive platform, there are ways to work with or around pocket pistol features in order to make the most of their advantages and minimize their disadvantages. Pocket-size handguns are often criticized for being difficult or uncomfortable to shoot, and many owners and users don’t spend the …