Concealed Carry

Much popular opinion around handgun slides posits that slide tightening is not particularly important for maximum accuracy. Instead, barrel-to-slide fit and barrel and bushing fit are more frequently stressed. With some of the quick packages that the gunsmith offers, barrel and bushing fit are good enough for carry purposes, or perhaps even for IDPA-competition pistols. But when a shooter demands top-notch accuracy, his pistol should have a good tight slide and frame-rail fit.

We recently tested guns with factory-fitted lasersights in the February 2013 issue. Here's an excerpt of that report.

Lasersights on handguns are common today. Scan the used-handgun case at a gun shop, and more than likely you'll find a rig that the former owner customized with a laser sight. In the new-pistol case, you will also see factory-fitted laser sights on handguns.

To answer a number of questions concerning the performance of the 1911 pistol, the Gun Tests South Carolina test unit obtained a Rock Island Armory Standard GI No. 51421 45 ACP, $410, and a Kimber Eclipse Target II 45 ACP, $1393, in what originally seemed to be a price mismatch.

Galco Gunleather’s patented M6X Auto Locking Holster has received the 2013 NRA Golden Bullseye Award for “Shooting Accessory of the Year.

A Gun Tests magazine August 2010 review on the Ruger SR9C notes that it fires from a 3.5-inch barrel. That makes it the smallest, most concealable, pistol in the test. But if you remove the 10-round magazine and insert the 17-rounder, the grip will become longer by about 1 inch.

At the 142nd NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Houston, Fabbrica D’Armi Pietro Beretta announced its newest pistol innovation featuring integral laser and light technologies furnished by LaserMax.

Small semiautos that match the physical dimensions of pistols we tested recently - such as Para-Ordnances $740 P12-45 - are usually referred to as compacts or sub-compact. But when pistols of this size class are miniaturized 1911s, the tag of "Officer's models" is hung on to them, even though they may not exactly fit the mold of the original Colt's Officer's model.

Manufacturers are taking a fresh look at the Officer's model for a number of reasons. For one, the 1911 pistol has legions of fans inside both competitive shooting and law-enforcement circles. Also, many military and ex-military personnel recognize the .45 ACP's superiority over the 9mm Parabellum, a cartridge choice often perceived as NATO's intrusion into American affairs. Traditionally the Officers model offered a six-round magazine, like the 945s. However, the Para Ordnance P12 integrates a double-stack or staggered-round magazine that holds ten rounds.

The P12 has been around a while and is essentially bug free. It fits the hand surprisingly well and points easily. Function was 100 percent despite warnings from some gunsmiths who seem weary of semiautos fitted with short slides. The P12 action also includes a Series 80-style firing pin block. This mechanism is not a favorite with 1911 purists, and some gunsmiths have a difficult time refining the action with this feature in place. But the P12 did not suffer any malfunctions because of it.

The San Antonio Police Department has selected the M&P40 as its new service firearm and has begun to convert officers to the new handgun platform. Gun Tests has its own rating of the pistol.

Gun Tests’ Idaho-based test team takes a detailed look at two carryable 40 S&W pistols in the May 2013 issue of the magazine. Sr. Technical Editor Ray Ordorica examined the Glock 23 Gen 4, $650, and the Taurus 24/7 G2C, $555.

The Glock 33, or G33, was chambered for 357 SIG and operated just like its medium- and large-size brothers, (models G32 and G31 respectively). The most notable difference was the short grip, which limited the shooter to holding the pistol with only two fingers. The rear of the stubby grip showed a generous palm swell and the trigger guard was generously undercut, or generously under-molded.

Gun Tests’ Houston- and Idaho-based test teams take detailed looks at two very different sets of handguns in the April 2013 issue of the magazine.

In this test we evaluate a 40 S&W polymer handgun that offers significant changes to its original design — Heckler & Koch’s $1005 P30 V3 adds an ambidextrous thumb safety to the latest edition of that company’s newest polymer platform.Most polymer handguns are simple in design. Rather than call the HK P30 more complex, we’ll use the word sophisticated. There are six variants of the P30 series pistol— seven if you count the suffix 'S' for ambidextrous safety. In our December 2007 evaluation of the 9mm Heckler & Koch P30 V3, we began our Gun Tests Report Card by saying: 'Based on the fine accuracy we achieved firing single-action only, maybe this is a gun that should have a thumb safety rather than a decocker.' The P30S V3 pistol in this test adds an ambidextrous thumb safety.