Categories
news

New Reviews Posted Up

The news section of the site has been a bit quiet since I shifted the focus of the site slightly. Instead of trying to pump out the latest news and press release information, I am focusing on providing more reviews of gun related products. As one of the few sites that fully discloses all biases in each review -and- doesn’t have annoying advertising plastered all over, I hope that the product evaluations I write are a help to you.

Ammunition Performance in Revolver

Here are some of the latest reviews I have published:

  • Anker LC90 Flashlight Review – Flashlights are must-have piece of equipment for daily life and self-defense. Although Anker tries to position this as a tactical flashlight, it is better suited for daily use in my opinion. I have a full review of it including runtimes and an examination of its questionable specifications.
  • Beretta 1301 Tactical Shotgun – Sadly, I wrote this review some time ago and failed to link to it from the rest of the site. So, this one sat unread by most people. While not “new” in the sense that I just wrote it, it is likely “new to most people” because it hasn’t been seen by many people at all.
  • Caldwell Platinum Series G3 Electronic Hearing Protection Review – These earmuffs proved to be a bad deal at any price. Feel free to read the full story, but the short story is hard pass.
  • Defensive Revolver Fundamentals Review – A great book about the use of revolvers in self-defense by recognized expert Grant Cunningham.
  • IWI Tavor X95 Review – The X95 proved to be a great shooting rifle. And while its price tag is larger than the budget of many shooters, it is a top-shelf, compact rifle that was reliable and accurate.
  • Ruger American Compact Pistol Review – Beefy. Generally, this is not a term associated with a compact handgun. Nevertheless, the Ruger American Compact pistol is just that. It works well, though it is not my first choice for concealed carry.
  • SIG SAUER P320 Airgun Review – This might be a fun gun to play with, but its not a training pistol. It has some positive aspects, but don’t expect it to replace your actual P320 for practice or training.
  • SIG SAUER Airgun Accessories – In addition to the P320 above, I looked at a number of airgun accessories from SIG: a Texas star spinner, reflex target and a quad shooting gallery.
  • Smith & Wesson Model 66 Review – I take a look at a pair of the modern manufactured .357 Magnum wheelguns from Smith. Some purists won’t like the two-piece barrel design, but these were good shooting handguns.
  • Taurus Spectrum Review – As much as I want Taurus to succeed, the company can’t seem to make a working gun at launch or fix its customer service woes. I detail both in this review.

I have also updated these reviews to reflect new versions of the books that have been released.

  • Black Man with a Gun – From my brother from another, Kenn Blanchard released a follow up to the original book. I updated the review to include information on the new tome.
  • Cartridges of the World – This is one of my go-to reference books for firearms information. The updated edition has been expanded and includes even more information than before.
  • Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson – Another fantastic resource, this book is a must have for any S&W collector. The current edition is even better than the previous – and I was not sure that would be possible.
Categories
Handguns

You Asked, They Delivered: The PF940CL 80% Pistol Frame

Polymer80 announced a new Glock-compatible 80% pistol frame called the PF940CL. This new user-completed frame combines a full-size slide and barrel with the company’s short grip. The result is a gun with a longer sight radius and increased velocity with the improved concealability of a compact handgun.

(Ed. note: The above photo is of the PF940CL and is from Polymer80. The other photos are of me building and shooting a handgun made with a prior generation Polymer80 frame.)

The Basics

The new Polymer80 PF940CL is a non-firearm part that can be finished by the end user to make a functioning handgun. It is fully compatible with “3 pin” Glock parts.

Polymer80 PF940CL

When completed, the gun will safely shoot 9mm, .40 S&W or .357 SIG depending on the slide and barrel assembly you install. Slide assemblies for the G17, G17L, G22, G24, G31, G34 and G35 pistols are all compatible with the frame. This means you can run a long slide on one of these frames if you like.

While the top of the frame is full sized, the grip portion is cut down to the compact length for easier concealment. Since Glock magazines are fully compatible within a pistol series, you simply use a Glock-compatible compact magazine in this gun. For example, you would use a Glock 19 magazine with a Glock 17 slide assembly.

[Don’t miss my review of the Glock 17.]

Some people might question the usefulness of this setup. However, a chopped grip with a full length barrel has been popular for decades.

For concealed carry, the extra grip length of the full size pistol increases the likelihood of printing. A shortened grip length reduces this possibility while still allowing you to carry a respectable amount of ammunition: 15 rounds in the 9mm.

When Can I Get One?

Polymer80 says it expects to begin shipping the new 80% frames around the beginning of October, 2018. I expect initial demand to be strong, so finding one at launch may be a bit difficult depending on how many Polymer80 can get into the pipeline. I expect plenty to be available in time for Christmas.

What’s Included?

Unlike some companies, Polymer80 is good at including almost everything you need to complete the receiver and turn it into a working gun.

Polymer80 Glock Frame

In the kit, you will get an 80% frame plus the company’s locking block and rear rail system. Also included are drill bits and an end mill. The drill bits and end mill are needed to make the necessary holes and remove material to make this a legitimate receiver.

Whoa – Did Someone Say Ghost Gun?

Wait…you mean that the Polymer80 PF940CL is one of them ghost guns?

Well, without getting into a detailed explanation of why it is completely legal to build a firearm for your own personal use, yes – this kit will (with your labor, tools and the missing Glock parts like a barrel and slide) allow you to build your own pistol.

Big Notable Caveat: It is completely legal to build your own gun under US federal law. Some states in the US might have their own laws that govern this. Likewise, readers outside of the United States are likely to run into issues.

For more on this topic, I’d suggest reading my article on the legality of building and owning your own gun without serial numbers.

My Thoughts

I’ve built a Polymer80 gun in the past, and I highly recommend that others try it out for themselves. I found the creation process was enjoyable. The final result was quite pleasing.

Unlike the pistol I built, this one is improved with rear metal rails. My pistol was an older design with the rear plastic rails. These required a great degree of hand fitting. The new system on the Polymer80 PF940CL is superior.

Polymer80 Glock pistol

The photo above shows me shooting my personally owned and made Glock compatible pistol that uses an earlier generation Polymer80 frame.

These kinds of kits run about $150, though I’ve occasionally seen them go on sale. By the time you add in the finishing parts, you are not saving much money (if any) on a factory Glock pistol.

However, if you enjoying building things, I found the price is more than worth it. Before it fell off of my fishing boat, it was a great shooting pistol.

Last Update: October 23, 2022

Disclosures

Polymer80 is not an advertiser nor have they “sponsored” this article.*

I have no business interest in any firearm manufacturer and accept no advertising from them. In fact, you will not find any pop-ups, pop-unders, auto-playing videos or other annoying foolishness on this site.

GunsHolstersAndGear.com is a for-profit website. I do not charge readers a dime to access the information I provide.

Some of the links on this page and site are affiliate links to companies like Amazon and Palmetto State Armory. These links take you to the products mentioned in the article. Should you decide to purchase something from one of those companies, I make a small commission.

The links do not change your purchase price. I do not get to see what any individual purchases.

*Sponsored articles are often nothing more than a direct payment for a site to publish an article about the product in question. Sometimes the article is even written by the company and not by the website publishing it.

There are quite a few sites that take the money and publish the content without ever disclosing this to their readers. Be careful where you invest your time.

Categories
Second Amendment Issues

3D Printed Guns, Thermonuclear Weapons & the First Amendment

Did you know that it is legal to publish information on how to make a hydrogen bomb? The Progressive magazine did it in 1979 after fending off a government attempt to censor it.

In light of that, it makes the latest brouhaha about printing a single-shot pistol seem silly. After all, what are the digital blueprints to a crude firearm compared to those of a thermonuclear weapon that can level entire cities?

Fundamentally, the question is the same in each case: can the United States government suppress the free exchange of information if it decides the information meets a threshold for being too dangerous? The answer is unequivocally no.

Free Exchange of Information

Communication is a pre-existing right, a natural right, that is protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. It is a right that naturally exists and is not granted by any government or political body. In fact, speaking out against the government is considered by many people to be the purest form of protected speech.

Time and again, this right has been recognized by the court system even when the communication is considered dangerous or would be detrimental to the government. This right has been recognized to protect nearly all kinds of communication including advocating for violence at a KKK rally, desecrating the US flag, publication of the “Pentagon Papers” and sharing the secrets of nuclear weapons in The H-Bomb Secret.

I list these specific examples because they can be uncomfortable, offensive and damaging to people and/or the government. But it is only that which we find offensive, frightening or dangerous that needs protection. Speech that everyone agrees with needs no such protection.

Among the rights protected by the First Amendment is the right to speech. Specifically, the Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Distilled down:

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…

No law abridging the freedom of speech. None.

Nevertheless, we have allowed the government to restrict various forms of speech from the earliest days of the Republic. Alexander Hamilton, for example, helped to draft and push through the Sedition Act of 1798 that imprisoned people for speaking or publishing anything identified to be against the government or president.

During World War I, the Woodrow Wilson administration jailed hundreds of people who spoke out against the government. And lest you think these kinds of issues are only in our distant past, consider that the Barrack Obama administration prosecuted whistle blowers under the same WWI Espionage Act – more than all prior administrations combined.

However, just because the government has trespassed upon our rights in the past, does not make it right today. Otherwise abhorrent practices of the past such as slavery, segregation, racial concentration camps and mass sterilization could still be legitimate practices today.

More Than Just Speech

As it was understood by the people at the time the US Constitution was adopted, and as it has been recognized by the courts throughout the years since, speech includes other forms of expression including writings, art and video. Dangerous ideologies are also protected.

Here in the United States, printed materials have always been considered protected speech. Publications like the magazine High Times and the various books on revenge, weapon making, creating false identities and hiding from the law have enjoyed broad protections for decades. Web sites, e-mail and other forms of electronic communication are also protected in spite of government encroachment in the digital realms.

Computer code, a recipe if you will, for creating a gun also has the same protection. Information can be dangerous, but the possibility for unlawful use by someone does not usurp the rights of law abiding citizens to read, possess, create and disseminate it.

Where Do You Stand?

I recognize that most of my readers are pro-gun people and are likely to support the ability to publish information on making guns. However, for the First Amendment to truly be strong enough to protect that right, all forms of communication must be defended by all of us – even, and especially, when such speech is uncomfortable.

Are you willing to defend someone’s right to burn a US flag? What about someone’s right to hang an effigy of President Trump? Would you support someone’s right to advocate for a repeal of the Second Amendment?

Standing up for uncomfortable – even crude, ugly and repugnant – communication is difficult. You don’t have to agree with the content, but will you stand for someone’s right to say or publish it? After all, that’s what we are asking people who dislike guns to do here: support our right to publish information about making firearms.

In 1979, I was just a dumb kid building models, playing Dungeons & Dragons and marveling over the relatively new Atari 2600 video game system. Even though I disagree with probably every single political aim The Progressive has, I’d like to think that I would have willingly spoken out for its right to publish The H-Bomb Secret had I been old enough.

Sadly, I don’t expect The Progressive or its readers to do the same for us today. Perhaps I could remind them of what Ron Carbon, the former publisher of The Progressive, wrote in his article “Afterthoughts – March ’81”:

Some of our colleagues in the mass media felt that ours was not a good First Amendment test case, since it involved the emotion-charged issue of nuclear secrecy…But we know there is no such thing as a “good” First Amendment test case: The First Amendment comes under attack only when someone thinks there is an urgent reason for curbing freedom – and it is precisely in those circumstances that the First Amendment must be upheld.

Replace “nuclear secrecy” with “guns” and see if that shoe still fits.

And if you believe they should be supporting us right now, will you show the same consistency the next time your ideological opponents are threatened with an abridgment of their rights?

Categories
Handguns

Walther PPQ Subcompact

Walther Arms announced its latest pistol: the Walther PPQ SubCompact. This new 9mm handgun takes all of the popular features of the PPQ M2 and puts them into a more concealable platform. This announcement was made at the 2018 SHOT Show where the guns were on display at the Industry Day at the Range event.

The Basics

In many ways the Walther PPQ SSC is just a chopped PPQ M2. However, that description diminishes how good this pistol could be. Nevertheless, it shares many of the iconic features of the larger gun just in a smaller package.

The PPQ Sub Compact has a 3.5″ barrel with a 1:10″ twist. This is 0.5″ shorter than the standard PPQ M2. One of the key measurements of a concealable handgun is the grip length. While Walther doesn’t give a measurement for the grip alone, the height of the gun is listed as 4.4″. This is a drop of 0.9″ from the full size pistol.

In more concrete terms, this means that the subcompact version of the gun is not long enough for the pinky to wrap around the grip. With the gun chambered in 9mm, 10 rounds fit into a flush seating magazine.

What is very nice is full compatibility with the larger 15-round and 17-round magazines of the larger PPQ guns. These mags use a spacer sleeve to provide a full grip on the gun. Also, the spacer sleeve prevents the magazine from striking the ejector when inserted into the pistol.

Walther PPQ SC specs

There is no immediate word if a .40 S&W chambered gun will be offered in the future. I doubt that adding the .40 S&W is a priority for Walther Arms since the 9mm is the most popular self-defense cartridge in existence. However, I could see them introducing it as it could be used as a backup gun for law enforcement agencies in a manner similar to how Glock positions the G17/G22 and G26/G27 pistols.

Walther continues the use of a push button style magazine release on this pistol. While I prefer this, I know there are many Walther fans who like the lever style release. While not truly ambidextrous, the button can be moved to the right side of the gun if you prefer.

Keeping with the idea of matching the gun to the shooter, Walther Arms retains the ambidextrous slide stop lever. Additionally, the grip has backstrap panels that are swappable.

Specifications

Caliber9mm
Capacity10 rounds, 15 rounds in extended mag
ActionQuick Defense Trigger, semi-auto
Barrel Length3.5″
Overall Length5.4″
Weight21.2 oz
Height4.4″
Width1.3″
Gripintegral polymer
Finishblack
MSRP at introduction$649

Price and Shipping

The PPQ SC has a suggested retail price of $649.

Walther Arms states the PPQ Sub Compact is shipping now. You should be able to slide by your local gun shop and order one up today. I would expect demand to be heavy for these initially, so you may have a delay depending on how many your dealer can get.

While I will likely keep my Walther PPS M2 as my daily carry gun, I am very interested in this gun. Having additional rounds on tap is certainly a good thing. The ability to use larger magazines in the PPQ SubCompact is also very interesting to me.

I look forward to trying one of these out in the near future.

Last Update: October 16, 2022

Special thanks to Paul Carlson of the Safety Solutions Academy. Carlson is a top notch defensive firearms instructor and an honorable man. If you ever have a chance to shoot with Carlson, jump at the opportunity. You won’t regret it.

While I haven’t yet had a chance to shoot this pistol, Carlson did and was able to provide these photos. Later today, he will have a video that I will post here.

Categories
Optics and Sighting Systems

ATN Thor 4 Thermal Scopes: Better Performance, More Features

American Technology Network (ATN) Corp. announced a new line of thermal rifle scopes called the Thor 4. These scopes offer a wide range of options and features that are sure to interest many hunters.

Sensors

At the heart of this scope is the ATN Obsidian IV Dual Core T. This is the technology that makes the rest of the features possible in this scope. In the base scopes, the sensor provides a 384×288 resolution while the optional sensor offers 640×480 resolution.

ATN Thor 4 color image

With the internal lithium ion battery, you can expect at least 18 hours of runtime with the first sensor. The upgraded sensor should still run for at least 16 hours on a single charge according to the data provided by ATN.

With this scope, you have the option of three viewing modes: black hot, white hot and color mode. A variety of electronic reticles are included in the scopes.

ATN Thor 4 Scope

There are additional sensors and measurement devices in the scopes. These include a gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, compass and range finder. These all feed data to a ballistic calculator.

Lenses

Variable power magnification lenses are part of the Thor 4 system. Like any other scope, you have to select the one that makes the most sense for you.

The 384×288 sensor can be paired with one of four different magnification lenses: 1.25-5x, 2-8x, 4.5-18x and 7-28x. With the 640×480 sensor, you have four different magnification lens choices: 1-10x, 1.5-15x, 2.5-25x and 4-40x. The higher the magnification factor, the higher the final price of the optic.

Video

Video capabilities have been upgraded in the Thor 4 models. These scopes use a dual core processor that has enough computing power to handle both recording high definition video and streaming it over WiFi.

In practice this means that you can record the entire hunt onto a microSD card while your partner can see things on his or her phone or tablet in real time. It also allows you to stream live to social media while recording locally if you wish.

I highly recommend checking out my friend’s hunting website that has additional information on hunting with thermal optics.

The microSD slot can handle high capacity cards: up to 256 GB of data. To put that into perspective, that is a quarter of a terabyte of data. Video is recorded at a resolution of 1280×960 @ 60 fps with the display showing 1280×720.

Controls

On the Thor 4, ATN opted to use a zoom wheel on the left side of the scope. Instead of pressing buttons to zoom in, you simply rotate this knob to move in or out.

Button style controls are still present on the top of the unit. These controls cover other things you may wish to change such as the reticle type or viewing mode.

WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity allows you to send data to your phone.

Ballistic Calculator

Using the data collected with its sensors and a load profile you select, the optic can do calculations for you for more precise shots. In theory, you range the shot and the computer automatically adjusts the reticle location based on all of the data its collected. All you have to do is pull the trigger.

Ranging the shot is accomplished by keying in on the height of the animal you are stalking. From the top of the animal to the bottom of the animal is enough height that the computer can calculate distance.

If you want a faster, more precise way of ranging, ATN offers an auxiliary ballistic laser, the ABL 1000. This laser integrates with the front of the scope and provides a direct measurement to the target.

ATN ABL 1000 Laser

Cost, Where to Buy

The cost of the new Thor 4 series of thermal scopes varies depending on how you choose to equip it. The base model, a Thor 4 384 1.25-5x has a suggested retail price of $1,999.

Upgrading to the 640×480 sensor and changing the lenses affects the price. Going to the largest sensor and using the 4-40x glass jumps the price to $4,799. While that may seem like a lot to the average shooter like me, I recognize that the technology built into this scope is far beyond anything I could have ever had just a few years ago. ATN deserves to make their money back on all of the research and development that goes into this kind of scope.

For me, I would probably buy the ATN Thor 4 640 1-10x. This would seem to make the most sense for my shooting. It offers the highest resolution with a broad range of magnification for short to medium range targets.

Last Update: October 23, 2022

Disclosure

GunsHolstersAndGear.com is a for-profit website.?I do not charge readers a dime to access the information I provide.

Some of the links on this page and site are affiliate links to companies like Amazon and Palmetto State Armory. These links take you to the products mentioned in the article. Should you decide to purchase something from one of those companies, I make a small commission.

The links do not change your purchase price. I do not get to see what any individual purchases.