Reviews

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. I have spent a lot of time this summer shooting mid-bore rifles for reviews. My range sessions have involved a lot of .35 Whelen, .375 H&H, and .338 Lapua ammo, which has been both fun and expensive. While those pursuits have all been supersonic, my newfound supply of reloading supplies in those bore diameters got me looking at a few options. One of those is the 375 Raptor, which is a truly interesting cartridge for silencer aficionados.

Welcome back to Front Line Friday. This week is a gear week, and the topic is medical gear an individual patrol officer can carry on the body to extend capability in the minutes before EMS arrives. Front Line Friday is brought to you by Dead Air Silencers, whose support keeps this column going every week.

The Soviet RPD (Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova) was a pioneering light machine gun that played a short but vital role in early Soviet weapon development and in adopting new intermediate-caliber weapon systems; it was adopted in 1949 alongside the AK and SKS, which significantly influenced the Cold War. It proliferated throughout ComBloc countries, driven by large-scale manufacturing and use, much like the AK and SKS.

The darkness is a lie your eyes have been telling you for years. Out past the fence line, the hog trail, the dry wash and the ranch road carry on without you, until a thermal scope shows who has been watching whom. This is TFB's Photo of the Day, showing the new Trijicon REAP-IR-50 LRF. I didn’t even try to identify the rifle setup, since this is the company's first scope built around a 1024x768 thermal sensor and that’s blinding my eyes.

Taking a quick scan through the Reinvigorating America’s Hunting Heritage (see the whole announcement here), you’ll note that it’s mostly about preserving Americans’ access to the great outdoors for shooting and hunting. In an age where hunters are facing a decline in available hunting land, the words of the Executive Order appear aimed at the opposite effect: The idea is to actually expand the public’s access to government-owned land. There’s also wording about conservation and increasing wildlife population numbers, and some other interesting little nuggets there—seriously, read the whole thing. And then, if you look closely, you’ll see this note as part of the President’s plan to increase hunting access to public lands.

Suppressed shooting is one of the genuine pleasures of this hobby. Less ear protection fumbling, no concussion, and a rifle that suddenly feels more civilised. It is also, if we are honest, a messy business. Hornady's new SBR Suppressed Supersonic line is aimed at the latter half of that equation.

A red dot is only as good as the plate under it, and Eemann Tech has built a new one for competition shooters who want an Aimpoint COA on a CZ Shadow 2 Optic Ready. The Eemann Tech CZ Shadow 2 OR Plate Mount for Aimpoint COA is made of steel, finished in black and designed for direct installation of the COA. It aims at precise alignment between slide and optic for competition, training and duty use. This should make an excellent competition pistol even better!

The Glock 43X and 48 are slim guns, and twenty rounds is not slim. Warne has launched a +5 Extension for the Glock 15-round steel magazine used in both pistols, and it takes the total capacity to 20 rounds without a new magazine body.

Production of the current-generation LCR, SP101, GP100, and Bearcat is suspended immediately. Ruger says it will complete its final 2026 runs of the SR1911, LC Carbine, PC Charger, PC Carbine, LC Charger, Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Single-Series revolvers, Vaquero, No. 1, 77-Series rifles, Hawkeye and Ruger Precision Rifle.

Every pistol red dot sold today works on essentially the same plan. An LED emitter sits on a carrier plate, and screws and springs nudge that plate to adjust windage and elevation. The SIG Sauer XRAY5 drops that plan entirely and is pitched as the world's first solid-state advanced red dot. SIG Sauer calls it "Precision built, precision kept," and sums up the thinking in one line: "Zeroed In Seconds Not Magazines." Let’s take a look at something completely new!

Every serpent has a tell, and this one carries it right under the muzzle. The TTI Sand Viper hides a built-in bladed stand-off the company calls its fangs, a little menace on an otherwise refined 2011 from Taran Butler's Simi Valley shop. This is TFB's Photo of the Day, and it shows the Coyote Bronze DLC frame and polished slide wearing a Coyote Brown Trijicon SRO in an ultra-low optic cut.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we talked about ways someone can build skills at the range specifically for carrying concealed. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I wanted to look at some of the prep work I do when I get ready to travel. In past articles, I’ve talked about traveling and the best way to fly with a concealed carry handgun. This is more about how to prepare and be prepared when traveling around the country. Let's take a closer look at the best way of traveling with your carry gun.

Most pistols are built to look the same at noon and at midnight. The P320-NIGHTSHIFT is built to look like it only comes out after dark. This is a SIG Sauer Custom Works P320, billed as "Custom Works. After Dark," and the first thing you notice is the contrast. A pale Platinum Cerakote covers the optic-ready slide and the full-size SXG steel grip module, and against it sit parts finished in Burnt Titanium PVD: the controls, the trigger, the magwell and the compensator. The grip panels are custom Hogue pieces with a Circle Cell pattern, so the whole pistol reads as a deliberate design instead of a parts-bin build. I might not love the pistol itself, but I love the looks - let’s see if you agree?

Blaser owners who have been waiting to put an Aimpoint COA R on their rifles now have a direct and elegant route. The new AIMPOINT A-CUT Saddle Mount for Blaser is available, and it gives the compact COA R red dot a dedicated home on Blaser rifles.

Taurus has expanded its TX22 rimfire lineup with the Brace-Ready TX22, a version of the popular .22 LR pistol built to accept a stabilizing brace. Released in 2019, the TX22 has built a strong following among rimfire shooters. The new model keeps the familiar platform but adds an extra point of support for better stability and control.

On August 5, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas ruled that the NFA's registration and approval requirements for suppressors, SBRs, and SBSs lost their constitutional footing the moment Congress zeroed out the $200 tax. Two months later, the DOJ has confirmed it won't appeal, and plenty of us are still trying to sort out what we can and can't do at the gun counter. So I called up Owen Miller, Vice President of the American Suppressor Association. Before joining the ASA in 2016, Owen spent more than a decade running compliance at Gemtech, so if anyone can explain where the lines sit right now for owners, manufacturers, and FFLs, it's the guy who used to live and breathe the paperwork.

The 3D-printed gunmaking revolution is here and now, with home enthusiasts now able to crank out fully-functioning firearms from their kitchen table. While Glock clones and pistol-caliber carbines are the most common examples you see, you can find 3D printing plans for stuff as diverse as a Gatling gun. Suppressors, grips and many other accessories are also now 3D-printable.

Five centuries ago, a payment of 296 ducats reached Bartolomeo Beretta, and the paperwork has never looked better. On October 3rd, 1526, that transaction became the first documented entry in the history of the world's oldest industrial dynasty, and Beretta has now turned it into a pistol.

This week for Wheelgun Wednesday, we are taking a look at the venerable Smith & Wesson Model 14 revolver in .38 Special. These guns have a reputation for accuracy and dependability from the era when bullseye shooting was the most common handgun sport. I picked this one up to put it back on the line in CMP Service Revolver competitions, so let’s discuss how it has played out.

Galco has added the Glock 21 to the fit list for its Combat Master 2.0, the updated take on the company's long-running pancake-style OWB belt holster. According to Galco's release, the new offering works with or without a carry optic, which is the headline for anyone running a slide-mounted dot on a full-size .45.

The year 1836 gave Texas its independence, and San Tan Tactical has used it as the name for its new line of Texas-made rifles and gear. Now comes the Frontier Series, a pair of 6-inch rifle suppressors in 5.56 NATO and .30 caliber with a $599 MSRP.

The idea of a lever-action .410 is nothing new at all; Winchester and Marlin both sold them in the past, and while they weren’t very common, they were something you could definitely find on the used market, as long as you didn’t mind a relatively high price.

Most red dot and magnifier setups are roommates. They share a rail, and that is about it. SIG Sauer wants the ROMEO5X-AMR Combo Kit to be more like a tag team. The red dot and the JULIET3-MICRO AMR magnifier come in one box for $499.99, and the two actually talk to each other. You won’t hear them talking, but your eyes will see the trick. This is a lot more than the usual bundle.

First up, the new XS ACRO footprint optic plate for Glock Gen6 pistols, as well as the R3D 2.0 night sights for Glock 43X/48 COA pistols, are on the market now. Here’s how XS Sights describes these new offerings, if you aren’t familiar with their versions for other pistols:

Seeing an animal at night is half the job. Knowing how far away it is decides the shot. The ATN ThOR 6 Elite LRF 640 3-24x handles both from one eyepiece. It pairs a 640x512 thermal sensor and 50 mm lens with a laser rangefinder that reads out to 1,000 meters. ATN has also cut its minimum advertised price (MAP) by $1,500, from $4,495 to $2,995.

We have a perfect setup for this Photo Of The Day. The partnership between Nighthawk Custom and Korth represents a rare convergence: German precision engineering married to American gunsmithing and sales. Founded in post-war Ratzeburg by locksmith Willi Korth, the company built its reputation on revolvers that required months to complete, each machined from billet steel by hand with uncompromising attention to detail. Take the time to admire the Korth Mongoose .44 Magnum in these images.

For decades, there has been an odd gap in the standards world. There has never been a publicly available standard for 5.56x45, even though millions of rifles are roll-marked for it. SAAMI has now filled that gap from the commercial side with 5.56 Commercial, abbreviated 5.56 COMM, introduced by Hornady.

Springfield Armory has given the SA-35 a finish that earns a second look. This version of the pistol wears a deep, lustrous polished blue across its carbon steel frame and slide, and checkered walnut grips with natural grain complete the picture. It is the "wood and steel" look of classic arms making, polished until it catches the light.

Argentina's Ministry of Defense has completed acceptance testing of the first batch of IWI ARAD-5 and ARAD-7 rifles acquired via Israel's Ministry of Defense, according to an announcement from the Argentine government. Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Carlos Alberto Presti presided over the presentation ceremony at the Patricios Infantry Regiment on October 2, 2025, joined by Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Marcelo Alejandro Dalle Nogare and service chiefs from all three branches.

Lasers are doing the stippling now. The new Springfield Armory Echelon Pro Comp line arrives with a grip texture called LightForged, where precision lasers sculpt and reform the surface of the grip module to create a highly defined pattern with the look and feel of custom hand stippling, but with greater consistency and control. The process allows precise shaping of texture geometry and placement across the grip, and it debuts here with Badlands, an aggressive cracked-earth pattern engineered for confident grip and control.