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One reason to produce rimfire replicas of military weapons is to help familiarize the shooter with how each gun operates at a fraction of the price of buying and feeding the corresponding centerfire model. If this isn't fun enough, then consider the history and the innovation that each rifle offers the shooter ahead of simpler rimfire designs. Gun Tests magazine last tested military-replica semiautomatic rimfire rifles in the February 2010 issue ("Tactical-Style 22 LR Carbines: Ruger, S&W, Legacy Duke It Out"), with the majority of the roster being taken up by the AR-15 design. In a newer test they evaluated the $609 German-made ISSC MK22 Desert Tan rifle with folding stock, a replica of the SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle). The MK22 was imported by Legacy Sports International of Reno, Nevada.

The AK-47 is one of the most efficient and widespread assault rifles ever built. Soviet weapons designer Mikhail Timofeevitch Kalashnikov conceived of the basic mechanism while recovering from wounds he received in a tank battle in October 1941 near Bryansk. Though his idea pivoted off the German concept of the assault rifle, Kalashnikov came up with his own design that led to several variants of the mechanism being built in the 1940s. In 1946, substantial revisions to working prototypes by Kalashnikov's assistant Aleksandr Zaytsev made the resulting 1947 model, the AK-47, especially reliable. The Soviet army officially adopted the AK-47 chambered in the 7.62x39mm Soviet as its battle rifle in 1949, and large-scale distribution of the weapon began in the mid-1950s.

Gun Test's Idaho test team has spent a lot of time looking at relatively tiny 9mm handguns over the past year. We've found there are a few good designs that permit the use of some relatively hot ammo in the small 9mm packages. But some people want still more power, so we've decided to sample a few of the forties out there. For this test we looked at a S&W M&P Compact 40 ($569) and a Kahr CW40 ($485). They are a bit larger than the tiny nines we've been trying, and there are good reasons for that. The 40 S&W is a lot more cartridge than the 9mm Parabellum, and when forties get smaller than these two test guns, recoil is entirely unfriendly. However, Kahr and a few other makers do offer smaller guns in this caliber if you must have one. We tested these two compact forties with three types of ammo, Remington 155-grain JHP, Black Hills 165-grain JHP, and American Eagle 180-grain FMC. Here's what we found.

The 38 Special revolver has long been a standard as a back-up and concealed-carry handgun. As part of our new Bargain Hunter series, we wanted to challenge the conventional notion that a wheelgun chambered in 38 Special should be the de facto winner of any boot-gun showdown simply because it has always won those battles in the past. In the same power range as the 38 Special is the 9mm Luger (aka 9mm Parabellum or 9x19mm), which has the added benefit of being loaded more widely, often at less cost per round, than the 38 Special. Also, many carbines are chambered for 9mm, which makes it a handy choice for a long gun/handgun duo, even if the handgun is a revolver. To be fair, the 38 Special is also chambered for long guns, primarily lever guns. On the 38 Special's side is the fact that dozens of revolvers from Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Rossi, Charter, Taurus, and many others are chambered for the round, compared to a paltry few 9mms, some of which must use half-moon or moon clips to function. In this two-way test, we evaluated four handguns, three revolvers chambered for 38 Special and two revolvers chambered for 9mm Luger. Certainly, the best gun would win and earn our favor. But we also looked at the cost of consumables to see if, over time, one cartridge had an edge.

When it comes to personal defense, competition, and recreational shooting, the most popular rifle in America is likely the AR-15 chambered for .223 Remington. But there are still plenty of shooters who prefer the light recoil and low expense of 9mm Luger ammunition. Whereas caliber .223 is strictly the staple of rifle shooters, 9mm carbines are often used by pistol shooters who sometimes use a long gun. There are three basic types of 9mm carbine. They are the 9mm AR-15, semi-automatic versions of submachineguns such as the UZI, and purpose-built 9mm carbines that more or less follow their own rules of design. To answer some of those questions, Gun Tests magazine recently fired the $700 Thureon Defense 9mm.

Their choice of test ammunition was Winchester USA 115-grain FMJ rounds and two loads from Black Hills Ammunition topped with 124-grain bullets. One featured a full-metal-jacketed slug and the other a jacketed hollowpoint driven by a +P charge. Each carbine was tested for accuracy from the 50-yard bench using only their supplied open sights.

Here's what the staff at GT said:

When it comes to personal defense, competition, and recreational shooting, the most popular rifle in America is likely the AR-15 chambered for .223 Remington. But there are still plenty of shooters who prefer the light recoil and low expense of 9mm Luger ammunition. Whereas caliber .223 is strictly the staple of rifle shooters, 9mm carbines are often used by pistol shooters who sometimes use a long gun. There are three basic types of 9mm carbine. They are the 9mm AR-15, semi-automatic versions of submachineguns such as the UZI, and purpose-built 9mm carbines that more or less follow their own rules of design. In a recent test, Gun Tests magazine fired the $409 Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm.

GunReports.com learns about the MAK 90s, one of the most common AK copies in the U.S. today. Here are tips on what to do—and what not to do—if you need to work on one.

The introduction of the high-capacity Glock pistols was the starting gun for the polymer revolution. But when the low capacity 45 ACP G36 was introduced the reaction was underwhelming. It wasnt until manufacturers began adapting calibers larger than 9mm to polymer double-action platforms that the sacrifice in capacity for the sake of firing bigger bullets put the G36 in perspective. Loading from a single-stack magazine limits capacity, but also slims the gun. Thats not the first time a pistol was redesigned to make it more concealable. For example, the original interpretation of the Colt Officers model was born from simply shortening the grip of a 45 ACP Government model so that the butt of the gun did not stick out and print a bump in the profile of the cover garment. The methodology of slimming the grip and/or making it shorter is the concept behind two polymer guns we tested recently. They were the $637 single-stack Glock G36 and the $797 Springfield Armory XDM 3.8 45ACP Compact Bi-Tone.The latest incarnation of the XDM series shows an interesting evolution. The signature concept of the XDM pistols was to offer a polymer pistol with a grip profile closer to the Browning 1911. So, chambering the pistol for 45 ACP seems like a natural fit. A key attribute is that the XDM Compact may be operated with either a short or a full-length magazine. Separately, the Glock design has been criticized for its unique grip angle and clumsy ergonomics. But a lot of gun owners have grown up with it and, frankly, know little else. Glock has done much to improve the grip frame, and as time went on, the single-stack Glock has become more widely accepted.Test distance for our head-to-head evaluation was 15 yards from a solid bench using sandbags and a Caldwell Matrix shooting rest ($60 from BattenfeldTechnologies.com). Our choice of test ammunition was Black Hills 230-grain JHPs, Winchester 230-grain FMJs, and Hornady 185-grain Critical Defense jacketed hollowpoints. As indicated above, we recorded similar numbers from each pistol during our accuracy tests. But does that mean both guns were equal in every circumstance? Lets find out.

We acquired two Hi-Power 9mm look-a likes from Southern Ohio Gun and put them to the test. They were the Israeli-made Kareen (about $375), and the Hungarian FG (about $425). Both were surplus used single-action guns, essentially identical to the original Hi-Power design. Both had all-matching numbers, and that included the barrels and slides. The Kareen had clumsy hard-rubber or plastic grips, worn bluing, and a spur-type hammer. The FG had checkered walnut grips, decent shiny bluing, and a Commander- or ring-type hammer. We shot them with Russian 115-grain FMJ, Cor-Bon 115-grain JHP, and with 147-grain Black Hills Subsonic JHP. Heres what we found.

Toward the end of each year, I survey the work Ben Brooks, R.K. Campbell, Roger Eckstine, Austin Miller, Ray Ordorica, Robert Sadowski, John Taylor, Tracey Taylor, Ralph Winingham, and Kevin Winkle have done in Gun Tests, with an eye toward selecting guns, accessories, and ammunition the magazine's testers have endorsed. From these evaluations I pick the best from a full year's worth of tests and distill recommendations for readers, who often use them as shopping guides. These choices are a mixture of our original tests and other information I've compiled during the year. After we roll high-rated test products into long-term testing, I keep tabs on how those guns do, and if the firearms and accessories continue performing well, then I have confidence including them in this wrap-up.—Todd Woodard

When you buy a CZ USA SP-01 Shadow Custom No. 91029 9mm, $1200, from CZ Custom, or any custom shop, you are paying for applied expertise, not just parts. The most noticeable difference to the shooter was that the double-action first shot was not an issue. The sense of transition from DA to SA on our Custom SP-O1 was almost nonexistent. Double-action pull weighed in at 7.0 pounds, and the single-action press required only 3.0 pounds of pressure. But altogether they seemed less. This made our Double Tap test all the more exciting. Beginning with a double-action press, first shots rang out in elapsed times ranging from 1.05 seconds to 0.94 seconds. The fastest split was 0.25 seconds.

In the February 2012 issue, we also tried the Double Tap test beginning with a single-action first shot. After the initial run, our shooter's split times dropped from 0.21 seconds to an average elapsed time of 0.175 seconds. Nevertheless, our shooter reported that his control was suffering due to the flat-sided grips. For his hands, the full-profile rubber grips were more suitable.

From the bench none of our groups were as large as 2.0 inches across. The 115-grain rounds produced an average size group measuring about 1.7 inches. We split hairs calculating averages for the Black Hills 124-grain hollowpoints and the American Eagle 147-grain rounds, 1.23 inches versus 1.29 inches respectively.

In the multiple-targets test the first two shots on target qualified as a near perfect double, with two holes touching inside the A-zone. This was also the fastest run, with the score sheet showing a 2.19-second first shot and a 4.73-second total elapsed time. Average first shot and elapsed time averaged about 2.41seconds/4.82 seconds. T-1 was scored 9 A's and one shot less than an inch low. T-2 showed 8 A's with one hit left of center and the other just right of center. The head shots formed about a 4-inch-wide group on both targets, but in both cases one hit was wide right.

The idea of a backup pistol is an old one, going back to the days of flintlocks. Modern shooters want something more useful than a single- or double-shot pocket flintlock, and there are lots of modern pocket pistols available, particularly in semiautomatic persuasion. We've been looking at small 9mm pistols over the past year or so, and this month we've added a few more to the list. These three are the new Sig Sauer P290RS ($758), Ruger's LC9 ($443), and the Kel-Tec P-11 ($377). Some time back (April 2011) we wrung out a Ruger LC9 against the Kel-Tec PF-9 (which Ruger apparently copied), and the Kel-Tec won. We wondered if the ten-shot Kel-Tec P-11 would do as well as the slimmer PF-9.

These three test guns were all DAO, which means you can't cock them to get a light trigger pull. You simply have to heave on the trigger until the gun fires. This does nothing for helping you put your shots where you want ‘em, so that tends to make these guns best suited for close-range work. In short, we had our work cut out for us during our 15-yard accuracy testing.

All three guns locked their slides back after the last round. The Sig and Kel-Tec could drop their hammers a second time if the first strike failed to fire the round. Ruger's design required working the slide to eject the unfired round and load a new one, which tactically might be the better solution. If you have a bad round, get rid of it instead of beating a dead horse. We tested with Black Hills' 147-grain JHP, Cor-Bon's 110-grain Pow-R-Ball, and with the Ultramax 115-grain RN lead-bullet loads. In addition we tried several unreported types of ammo. Here's what we found.

If the internal parts of the 1873 Springfield breechloader look the same as those of the 1861 muzzleloader, that's because most of them are.