Editorial

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturer of the new Victra 20-gauge shotgun suppressor. This week we are taking a first look at a new silencer for review: the PTR Vent 1. The silencer made quite a splash when it was first announced, so let's take a tour through its features and specifications and talk about some testing plans.

Welcome back to Front Line Friday. This week is a gear week, and the topic is K9 patrol equipment: the gear that keeps both the handler and the dog alive and working across a career, not a demo. Front Line Friday is brought to you by Dead Air Silencers, whose support keeps this column going every week.

Every truck guy knows someone who dropped a Cummins diesel into a Chevy just to see the look on people's faces at the gas station. Grand Power of Slovenská Ľupča, Slovakia, has pulled off the rifle equivalent of that swap. But what is it?

Everyone knows a rifleman wants to make every shot count, but in the world of shotgunning, it’s kind of a given that you’re going to miss some shots, especially when you’re inexperienced. At least, you’re likely to have some misses when you’re wingshooting, especially on smaller birds with a lot of speed, like a teal. And obviously, it’s very difficult to get a follow-up shot on a flying bird with a single-shot shotgun. In my neighborhood, there used to be a neighbor who went to “the gunning bar” with a single-shot, and a few shells held between the fingers of his forward hand on the shotgun. Local legend has it that he could reload that gun so quickly that he’d get follow-up shots on eiders, despite the limitations of his equipment, but those sorts of stories are rare (and even more so as time marches on).

If you have never shot .22 LR suppressed, you have missed one of the best experiences in shooting. A subsonic rimfire behind a can is genuinely quiet, the whole thing costs very little per round, and new shooters who flinch at a centerfire rifle will happily shoot a suppressed .22 all afternoon. Derya Arms has clearly noticed, and here is their new OBone suppressor in detail.

Taurus has added a Flat Dark Earth finish to the TX9, and it covers all three sizes at once: full-size, compact and sub-compact. Both the slide and frame are FDE, with a matte black barrel peeking out through the ejection port. Taurus marketing GM Caleb Giddings put it simply when he said that in a world of flat-black semi-autos, FDE just looks awesome. I agree with him. A tan pistol stands out in a gun case full of black ones.

Not everyone wants a tree. Trijicon has added a Standard Green Duplex reticle option to the AccuPoint 1-8x24, aimed at hunters and shooters who want a familiar, uncluttered sight picture with nothing in the way of the target. It joins the Red Triangle Post version in a lineup that now offers two reticle choices.

I have been waiting for this one, as have many, for quite some time, and it's finally here! When Magpul launched the DT Carbine Stock in late 2023, the main selling point was an internal Dual Tension mechanism that adds friction against the buffer tube without a second locking lever. The new DT-S Carbine Stock keeps that system and builds a wider body around it with two parallel storage tubes. Each tube is sealed with dual O-rings, rated waterproof to 10 meters, and holds up to two CR123 or AA batteries (or whatever else you can stuff in there). Magpul also enlarged the cheek weld area for improved contact. The DT-S fits Mil-Spec carbine receiver extensions only and is listed for both AR-15/M4 and AR-10/SR-25/M110 platforms. MSRP is $94.95. I already have one on the way for review, so in the meantime, here is the official word from Magpul.

The Schmidt & Bender 3-18x42 Meta FFP with the SBX reticle is a compact first focal plane riflescope for hunters and practical precision shooters. After about a year of testing, training and timed DMR-style matches, my verdict is simple: it handles like a small scope, performs optically like a much bigger one, and the reticle never got in my way when the clock was running.

Four glass eyes, a crimson visor and a hose snaking back to the pack. Whatever this operator is hunting probably should not exist. The kit comes from Shaw Concepts, the Alabama gear maker a Force Recon Marine started in 2019 after learning that a sewing machine cost about the same as one custom plate carrier.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week we took a look at some of the biggest mistakes when it comes to carrying concealed. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to continue the list with some of the most common mistakes I see experienced concealed carriers make, which gets easier when certain things slip our minds throughout everyday life. Let's take a closer look at some of the biggest carry mistakes with our second part.

Barrel announcements are usually where one stops scrolling. But this one is worth a minute, because the details Wilson Combat chose to publish say something about how the barrels are made, and barrel making is one of those processes where the unglamorous steps decide everything.

Leonardo DRS has received a $63 million production order from the U.S. Army for its next-generation family of Weapon Sights, Individual, better known as FWS-I. The order sits under the Army's existing indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for advanced, battlefield-proven thermal weapon sight systems supporting dismounted soldiers. Let’s take a closer look at what this sight does.

Ruger has worked through the grip colours on the RXM. Black, Stealth Gray, Flat Dark Earth, OD Green. When you run out of frame colours, there is only one place left to go, and Ruger has gone there: six new RXM models with PVD-coated slides in copper and blue are here.

Listen to Behind The Gun on TFB – https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/podcast/

The CZ DUTY 9mm has one of the best factory striker triggers I have pressed, and it let me shoot accurately from the first magazine. The grip, as tested, did not fit my hand perfectly, so practical shooters, duty users and serious carriers should hold one before buying one.

Every October, Americans put pumpkin spice in everything from coffee to dog treats, so it was only a matter of time before it reached the AR. Banshee Defense's exclusive 2026 Pumpkin Spice set from Die Free Co. pairs a Kung Fu Grip, Tiger Claw handstop and DOS BOOT magazine base in an orange-to-gold iridescent finish with black infill.

Welcome back to another Wheelgun Wednesday here at TFB! Timing is everything. Two weeks after Ruger pulled the plug on most of its revolver catalog (source), Smith & Wesson went the other way and released a pair of .45-caliber N-frames whose family tree runs straight back to the trenches. Meet the Model 1917 Classic and the Model 22 Classic, both available now.

Northrop Grumman and Barrett Firearms have entered a teaming agreement to produce the weapon portion of the Precision Grenadier System, a shoulder-fired 25mm grenade launcher. Northrop Grumman is advancing the PGS and its accompanying ammunition development to address domestic and international customer needs, and the stated purpose of the alliance is to get the capability to the warfighter faster.

The construction is authentic to the original. Walnut makes up the body, the side-folding mechanism is stainless steel, and the pistol grip is injection-moulded. Against the matte stainless receiver and barrel, it gives the rifle the exact silhouette that a generation of shooters recognises instantly, which is a strange thing to say about a stock, but anyone who grew up watching action films in the 1980s will know precisely what is meant.

This answers the question left hanging when the Flying Ace name first turned up on Canik's accessory pages: the platform is the METE MC9LS. Canik has launched the pistol as part of its Canik Creations line, a WWII aviation tribute built on a gun that already has a reputation.

FN Browning Group has completed its acquisition of Accuracy International, the designer and manufacturer of precision rifle systems. TFB's Matthew Moss reported on the deal in May, when the agreement was announced and was still subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition is now complete, and this article has the latest details and quotes.

Welcome back to another deep dive into why people love a popular handgun on the market. Last time, I took a look at why people love the Smith & Wesson 5906 line of handguns and what made them so popular in the 1990s, with a call to bring them back with modern machining processes. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to look at another 9mm that grew in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s for a number of reasons. I have owned more of these pistols than I care to admit and there's certainly something special about them. Let's take a closer look at why people love the SIG Sauer P226.

Few countries carry as much musical baggage as Argentina, but this time the story is about rifles rather than Evita. Israel Weapon Industries is supplying the Argentine Armed Forces with its Arad 5 and Arad 7 rifles, some paired with the Meprolight sights.

Beretta has spent its 500th anniversary year building one-offs, and TFB has already looked at one of them, the 92FS Diamond. The APX Falco is a different kind of special. There is gold on it, and a lot of hand engraving, but the most interesting thing about this pistol is a piece of engineering that has nothing to do with decoration: the red dot is not mounted on the slide. It is part of it.

A safe full of rifles leaning against each other could be a waste of a collection and a waste of space. For those who live where it’s legal, 2A Display's answer is a line of wall and safe mounts that hold firearms, magazines and blades in the open, and the company sums up its aim simply: innovative products that make storing your guns and blades swift and seamless. Everything is handcrafted in Portage, Michigan.

The LASERSPEED LS-TH3R is a 3-in-1 aiming and illumination unit built for night vision shooters, and the headline number is its lack of weight. At only 6.1 oz (173 g), it carries a visible green laser, an infrared aiming laser and an adjustable infrared illuminator in a single housing. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new.

Trijicon has added a Coyote Brown anodized finish to the RMR HD, and the reason is clear: people kept asking for it. The duty-grade red dot is now offered in brown alongside the original black, with both reticle options.

The Pulsar Thermion 3 LRF XT60 is a 1280x1024 HD thermal riflescope with a built-in 1,200 m (1,312 yd) laser rangefinder. This is Pulsar’s new flagship thermal, made for hunters who want serious night capability in something that mounts, looks and handles like a classic 30 mm scope. After about 2 months with a pre-production sample on dry nights, in rain and in fog, it's the best thermal riflescope I've had. I have some complaints, but they are very minor.

Some pistols look as if they have spent their lives behind glass. This SIG Sauer P210, recently featured by B&T Switzerland, looks like it has spent considerably more time doing what pistols are meant to do. Its worn finish and well-used trigger give it character, even if we can only speculate about how many rounds have passed through it.