Reviews

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the YHM R45 Multi-Host Suppressor. Today, we’re diving into a fresh offering from Faxon Firearms, a company known for precision barrels and innovative firearm components. The Faxon Twenty-Toucan .22 Cal Modular Suppressor has been generating buzz since its announcement at SHOT Show 2025 and release just a month ago, and for good reason. This versatile, user-serviceable can is designed for .22 LR, .22 WMR, and 5.7x28mm, blending modularity, durability, and impressive sound suppression. Today, we’ll talk about what makes the Twenty-Toucan worth talking about and what my experiences with it have been so far.

The latest version of the Senate tax bill, coinciding with the House One Big Beautiful Bill Act, j ust dropped on Politico, and it contains some big news for the NFA world. After a brief setback that pulled all NFA changes from the bill, the new version now aligns more closely with the version passed in the House. Keep reading for all the details.

Welcome back to the next instalment in the “A Beginner Tries NRL Hunter” series. The last article focused on the match description and our efforts to get ready. This article will cover arriving at the match and the first day of competition, hopefully giving you a flavor of what to expect if you wanted to give the competition a try. If you missed the first part, catch up here.

Photo Of The Day: Here it is, the Beretta BRX1 Ranch Rifle. Called a groundbreaking, compact straight-pull rifle engineered for precision shooting and hunting, now optimized in a ranch rifle configuration. This lightning-fast, manually operated platform boasts an 8-lug rotating bolt head with a secure lock-up system, fully ambidextrous controls, and a crisp single-stage trigger for exceptional performance.

We get it. The AR-15 rules supreme in the U.S. market. But even though the AR series has been around since the 1950s, when Eugene Stoner brought the AR-10 and other designs to market, a lot of us are still happy to shoot a rifle with a wood stock and traditional ergonomics—and bang-bang-bang rapid-fire capability. You don’t see a lot of hype from the industry for Fudd-tastic semi-autos, but they’re still quite desirable to some hunters. Here’s a quick summary of what’s available on the new and used market.

I love new products that push the boundaries of what’s possible within optics, and it seems SIG Sauer has something to look forward to. The new OSCAR6 HDX PRO is called a ground-breaking spotting scope, using SIG's optical image Stabilization.

At the recent SIG NEXT 2025 event, there was a massive amount of new products introduced, from firearms to electro-optics. This article will introduce SIG Sauer's entrance into weapon-mounted rangefinders. The KILO WARP is built around the company's GEN II LightWave DSP engine, offering fast ranging performance even in difficult conditions like fog, rain, or dust.

I’m already a huge fan of Streamlight for their ProTac Rail Mount and TLR-1 series of weapon lights. As far as the more “budget” options go, I’ve found that Streamlight products offer a great combination of price, performance, and durability when compared to some of the more well-known or higher-end brands in the lighting market. Streamlight is excited to announce their new SL-SideSaddle compact headlamp. This headlamp is designed to mount to a wide variety of headgear, including regular hats, hard hats, and bump helmets, without interfering with visors, hearing protection, or other head-mounted accessories.

Leupold & Stevens has introduced updated versions of two of its spotting scope lines: the SX-4 Pro Guide HD Gen 2 and the SX-2 Alpine HD Gen 2. The SX-4 Pro Guide HD Gen 2 features Leupold’s Elite Optical System, designed to cut down glare and provide clear views in challenging lighting, such as the harsh glare of early morning glassing. The more budget-friendly SX-2 Alpine HD Gen 2 uses Leupold’s Advanced Optical System, which offers solid clarity and contrast throughout the day.

Shortly after the adoption of the PK machine gun in 1961 and its subsequent production the following year, Grigory Ivanovich Nikitin and Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov found themselves in competition once again. This happened after the original Soviet general-purpose machine gun contest, the Nikitin TKB-521, lost out to the Kalashnikov PK. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets acquired the U.S. M60 machine gun and an M122 tripod.

Welcome back to TFB’s Photo Of The Day, where we spotlight firearms of all kinds. Today, we turn our focus to the Alfa AC-SMG9, a submachine gun developed by AC-Unity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we talked about how to carry when you're on vacation, along with some of the challenges that come with traveling. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I think it's important to look at how exactly you train for carrying a concealed gun. Of course, we love to go out with our full-size range guns and shoot quick split times with something that's relatively easy to fire, but what about our carry guns? If you talk to the general person who carries a concealed firearm, you'll quickly notice that people who carry their guns don't train with them. This will be a two-part series where we talk about the most important aspect of training with carry guns and next week will be focused more on drills as well as tips to train. Let's take a closer look at what to practice for concealed carry.

When it comes to holsters, we have grown used to the debate on whether or not you should choose leather or Kydex for a daily carry holster. Ever since the release of Kydex holsters, there have been two main options for holster material. What if there were a viable third option? I heard Falco Holsters was coming out with a set of holsters that are either a hybrid or fully made of genuine carbon fiber. Unlike carbon fiber texture printed onto Kydex holsters, these Falco Holsters are fully made out of real carbon fiber, which made me immediately wonder how they performed in daily life. Let's take a closer look at Falco Holsters' carbon fiber options.

The new SIG Sauer Hexium suppressor family is designed to perform across a variety of popular platforms, but it’s probably not a coincidence that all the lifestyle images are together with AR-style firearms. The manufacturing process is additive manufacturing, or in other words, 3D printing in metal. Inside the core, SIG claims to have unique internal geometries that deliver a low back pressure and quiet tones across firearms of all types.

The Strike Industries Strike Micro Threaded Comp - QUAD V, an OpticsPlanet exclusive, is now available for 9mm handguns. Priced at  $74.95, this compensator is designed to eliminate vertical muzzle movement, making it a practical choice for shooters entering the Open Division at USPSA matches or seeking improved control. This compensator builds on the original Quad Comp, with a focus on reducing vertical muzzle rise through two large vertical ports. It’s supposed to be compatible with any 9mm handgun featuring a 1/2x28 threaded barrel, including models like the Glock 17 and Glock 19.

The SIG Sauer P320-MAX 2.0 is the latest edition of the competition-ready P320 MAX series. This is a dedicated 9mm competition pistol developed in collaboration with Max Michel, Team SIG captain and world-record holder. The updated design builds on the original P320-MAX, with enhancements aimed squarely at high-level competitive shooters.

I’m a huge fan of shooting both handguns and rifles to meet a certain performance goal. Over the years, I’ve adopted a few simple and popular drills that have helped me keep my firearm skills proficient, but of course, there are a ton of drills and skill-building exercises we can adopt and add to our repertoire to become more well-rounded shooters. To that end, I’ve brought back Bryce and Kevin from The Carry Handle Podcast to get a better understanding of the types of drills available for all of us to practice, as well as how and where these drills are best suited. Please welcome back the Carry Handle Crew, and be sure to let us know what your favorite skill-building exercises and drills are, your go-tos for improving your firearm skills.

Steen Defense is a gun company based in Stockholm, Sweden. In case you haven’t heard of them before, is because they are a new company and this is the first time any magazine, newspaper or blog was allowed into their office. This article is an exclusive TFB interview, where I met with the founder André Steen to pick his brain about the background, the current state and the future of the company. We also got a first exclusive test fire of their latest prototype firearms.

Parades often bring polished boots, crisp uniforms, and national pride, but sometimes they also come with unexpected firepower. In today’s POTD, members of the Força Aérea Portuguesa (Portuguese Air Force) march in formation carrying MAC-10 submachine guns, a surprising Cold War-era addition to a modern military parade. The strap in the front is a nice addition - is it the world’s shortest sling ever?

If you heard about a company that made single-action revolvers, and they’d been in business for 50 years, you’d probably think we were talking about some Peacemaker clone manufacturer. Some of those cowboy-gun-knockoff companies have been in business a long time. But no—we’re talking about North American Arms, which celebrates five decades in business this year, mostly focused on making single-action hideout guns that you can conceal almost anywhere.

You want to make America great again? Start with your holster. This scabbard wins. It wins big. DeSantis has released a limited-run commemorative holster marking the 45th and 47th presidencies of the United States. Built from American steerhide, the holster is available in right-hand draw, unlined tan leather, and fits Glock 19-size handguns or full-size 5" 1911 pistols - just specify what you want to carry as you place your order.

Looking for lightweight maneuverability and magnum performance in the same rifle? Meet the new 6.5 PRC CROSS Sawtooth, made pairing precision engineering with backcountry-ready features. The 6.5 PRC variant comes equipped with a 22-inch PROOF™ Research carbon fiber barrel, offering impressive rigidity and reduced weight for extended carry or mountain hunts. The weight is 6.9 lb, or just above 3 kg.

SIG Sauer has released the 516-MOHAWK rifle. The rifle is chambered in 5.56 NATO and comes standard with a 16-inch cold hammer-forged barrel with a 1:7 twist rate. An adjustable gas block in combination with a short-stroke gas piston system allows for fine-tuning the performance for suppressors and harsh environments (as in you didn’t clean your gun well enough). The cam path and the feed ramp have steel reinforced components to handle wear over time.

A couple of years ago, we covered a short news piece on the simple, lightweight, and affordable 1x2” compact target stands for paper targets from Re-Nine Safety. I’ve actually been using these target stands for two years, and aside from a few odd bullet holes from errant shots, they’re holding up beautifully, and I still use them to this day. Re-Nine has just announced their latest range accessory offering with the introduction of their new Steel Target Kit, meant as an affordable all-in-one kit you can take right out of the box and to the range to shoot.

In my previous article, I discussed the PKG smoothbore Kalashnikov machine gun, which was influenced by the U.S. Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) program. The PKG was predated by the AO-27, which was the Soviet Union's first assault rifle designed for fin-stabilized discarding sabot ammunition, developed in 1961 by D. I. Shiryaev.

Photo Of The Day: We’ve featured our fair share of heavy hitters over the years, but today we’re looking at a precision rifle that redefines what a compact .50 BMG can be. Meet the Victrix Corvo C.S. – a short-barreled beast built for mission-specific flexibility without compromising on long-range capability.

Welcome to TFB’s Small Business Spotlight! We recently asked you to tell us about your small firearms businesses. This week, we profile Romeo Hotel Engineering. Thanks to them for volunteering to be included!

Mesa Tactical is fairly well known now for making professional-grade shotgun accessories. They’ve just unveiled their highly anticipated Pro Packages, designed to deliver all-in-one tactical upgrades for some of the most popular shotgun platforms. Tailored for law enforcement, military, competitive shooters, and civilian defenders, these preconfigured kits combine Mesa Tactical’s battle-tested components into mission-ready solutions at exclusive package pricing.

SIG Sauer has introduced their new 9mm hammer-fired pistol called P211-GTO, a modern take on the classic 1911 double-stack design. The P211-GTO features a 4.4-inch bull barrel paired with SIG’s MACH3D compensator, a 3D-printed component designed to significantly reduce muzzle rise and felt recoil.

Kalashnikov Concern have announced that they will soon start the production of the modernized AK-308, an AK-pattern rifle chambered in 7.62x51. Designed in 2018, this battle rifle is primarily made for export. Let’s see what has been changed in the design of the AK-308.