Reviews

The .338 Norma Magnum has been a prominent topic for bridging capability gaps in military applications for over a decade. Domestic and international defense contractors actively seek to enhance overmatch and increase lethality while reducing the weight to get a larger caliber in the fight. One notable company in this arena is FK BRNO, a Czech defense firm specializing in designing and manufacturing firearms. FK BRNO recently developed the BKS .338 medium machine gun, unveiled at the Eurosatory 2024 defense exhibition. It was an unexpected development since this was the company's first machine gun design.

Freezing cold in TFB’s Photo Of The Day, as we take a closer look at the KS-1, designated L403A1, and known as the Alternative Individual Weapon (AIW) system. The AIW system includes a Vortex 1–10x low power variable optic paired with an Aimpoint ACRO P-2 red dot sight, enhancing target acquisition capabilities across various engagement ranges. Additionally, the rifle is equipped with the KAC QDC/MCQ-PRT suppressor, designed to reduce muzzle flash and sound signature while mitigating the adverse effects commonly associated with suppressor use, such as increased gas blowback and fouling.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we talked about how less on your carry gun allows you to do more in everyday life. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I wanted to take a look at some of the options that you guys bring up when it comes to carrying less-than-lethal options. I plan on breaking this down into a two-part series where we look at some of the benefits of carrying less-than-lethal and why, legally, it may be better to have a less-than-lethal option rather than just solely relying on your gun. Some of the readers have talked about what they carry when it comes to less lethal options, and recently, I hopped on ASP to order some of the less lethal options on the market. Let’s take a look at the idea of carrying less-than-lethal options.

XS Sights just announced its XS Lever Handguard (LVR-HG) for Henry lever-action rifles. The LVR-HG was designed for the modern lever-action shooter, meticulously crafted based on real-world usage for those looking to update their Henry rifle with a customizable handguard solution that is rugged, lightweight, and will accommodate lights, lasers, or any other M-LOK compatible device.

SK Guns is back at it again with a new fresh and sexy permutation of a 1911 for us, but this time it’s not meant to simply be a collection piece; rather, these are meant to be shot! SK Guns is spending 2025 by venturing into the world of shootable pistols. Similar to some of their launches earlier in the year, the Agent Eclipse was produced in partnership with Stan Chen Customs, Agency Arms, and the color-case hardening was completed by the Famous "DOUG."

Every gun enthusiast likely has their own vision of the perfect "gun room." For me, it’s always been about recreating the feel of a true armory, which is why I’m thrilled to welcome today’s guest, Tom Kubiniec from SecurIt Tactical. SecurIt goes beyond basic gun storage, offering innovative organization solutions for everyone from your weekend warrior to full-time gun shop owners and armorers as well. With a military background and experience designing armories for various units in the U.S. Military, SecurIt delivers everything from traditional gun safes to cutting-edge, lightweight, quick-access options that are simple to set up, highly secure, and ready when you need them most. Today, Tom will highlight some of the standout features of SecurIt’s product line and shed light on some of the ways he’s helping to improve the industry as a whole through education, modern manufacturing techniques, and smart security features that don’t hinder authorized access.

The 2011 platform has long been a favorite among competition shooters—fast, accurate, and smooth in a way that makes your average off-the-shelf gun feel clunky in comparison. But let’s be honest: these pistols have historically been big, heavy, and not exactly carry-friendly. Staccato not only noticed this gap in their product lineup but due to the more widespread adoption of Staccato 2011 pistols for not just competition, but duty as well meant that the new Staccato C was an inevitability. Staccato announced its launch earlier in 2024, with the first few pieces shipping out in mid-2024 - mine included. This updated model replaced the earlier single-stack Staccato C, introducing enhancements like a beefier frame and new magazine geometry tailored for versatility in concealed carry, duty, and home defense as opposed to pure competition performance.

Today we have some sweet photos of the M110 SDMR Sniper System, which is a semi-automatic precision rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO round. The optic is a SIG Sauer TANGO6 1–6x24 low-power variable optic, which blends in perfectly among the other strange shades of FDE. The bipod is a 6-9 Harris with a LaRue mount to fit the M-LOK handguard.

Welcome back to Wheelgun Wednesday, TFB’s weekly article series where we discuss all kinds of firearms with cylinders, including unusual ones like the modern multi-caliber pepperbox that we took a look at a couple of weeks ago or what we have for today's edition - the ROTO 12 revolver shotgun line by American Gun Craft. ROTO 12 shotguns are basically black powder percussion revolvers; each chamber of their cylinders must be primed and loaded with FFG powder and projectile. Well, thanks to that feature, purchasing them does not require an FFL transfer; the company can deliver these wheelguns directly to your doorstep (with a few exceptions).

I've been on a bit of an optics kick lately, adding various sighting solutions to my firearms. When the opportunity came to test out Meprolight's Tru-Vision SR MIL-STD Red Dot Optic, I jumped at the chance to see how this would perform on an equally unique looking firearm. After spending a full day at the range in Minnesota's wonderful 30-degree windy weather, I can say with confidence that this red dot delivers on its promises. Let's dive into the details.

Anyone who has built their own AR-15 will have inevitably come across the all-important task of choosing what barrel twist rate they’ll be using. When I built my first AR-15, I relied entirely on a diagram I found on 4chan’s weapons board, /k/, which mapped twist rates to bullet weights. The extremely rudimentary chart clearly identified what common barrel twist rates worked best with what bullet weights, but beyond that, it offered no scientific explanation or reasoning behind it.

Strike Industries has just dropped a practical new accessory for anyone still running a standard A2 birdcage flash hider—the A2 Blast Shield. Designed as a drop-in solution to reduce side concussion and redirect muzzle blast forward, this blast shield is geared toward both professional and civilian shooters looking to enhance comfort without replacing legacy muzzle devices. This product is clearly in high demand: Strike Industries has sold out of the first batch, and a second is on its way now.

A recent development in the Russian GP under-barrel grenade launcher series is the GP-46, part of Kalashnikov Concern's export series of weapons chambered in NATO calibers. Chambered in NATO 40×46mm low-velocity (LV) ammunition, this launcher is introduced alongside the new AK-19 assault rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. In today's geopolitical arena, this is for those customers wanting to balance their friendship between two global superpowers.

Some Norwegian Heckler & Koch firearms in today’s Photo Of The Day, where we see the HK416N and the AG-HK416 in action. We have Norwegian Army service members assigned to Task Force Viking’s Quick Reaction Force, in a live-fire exercise at a shooting range near Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, on December 31, 2024. What a place to be on New Year’s Eve!

Say you’re hunting in the high mountain ranges of Indiana, and you want to reach out and knock over an elk. Or maybe you’re in Ohio farmland, glassing fields a mile away, in the next county over, and you see a Booner step out of the treeline. Thanks to a collaboration between Barrett and Federal, you no longer have to pass on that shot because your straightwall cartridge rifle isn’t powerful enough! Today, on April 1, they’ve revealed the new 50 SW cartridge for the long-distance hunter who needs to follow straightwall cartridge restrictions.

Saturday morning cartoons are back! NBC plans to revitalize the Saturday morning cartoon with a new programming block—NBC Action Saturday, due to launch in 2026. The block will run from 8 AM through 11:00 AM every Saturday morning, with a slate of original cartoons and children's entertainment. As Editor in Chief of The Firearm Blog, I’m excited to announce that we’re joining the fun with the upcoming TFB Pew Patrol.

In this article, I want to look at some of the differences between training at the range and training for self-defense. Training for both is equally important, but training at the range isn't always training for self-defense. There's a common misconception that training in general will also be training your self-defense skills.

This is the CW Gunwerks and JMac Customs Signature Series - 14.5" IMR Limited Edition Rifle, perfect for our Photo Of The Day. CW Gunwerks, based in Miami, Florida, builds each rifle with careful attention to detail. Partnering with JMac Customs, which designs and manufactures most of the components, the two companies focus on quality and precision.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the world of rimfire and its many interesting guns, history, ammo, and more. In this continuing series where I test as many .22LR offerings as I can get my hands on, we’ve covered everything from CCI’s Standard Velocity to European budget picks like S&B Club. This week, I’m taking a look at a classic American staple—Federal Lightning 40-grain 22LR, marketed as an affordable, all-purpose round for plinking and small game. I dug up a roughly 30-year-old box of the stuff when doing some spring cleaning in the shop and thought I’d run it through our series of tests to see how it’s held up over all these years.

The FN P90 is one of the most overlooked personal defense weapons in the world. Designed by FN Herstal in 1990, this futuristic bullpup fires 5.7x28mm, offering high capacity, low recoil, and impressive ballistic performance—especially when compared to 9mm. Whether you’re curious about its performance in real life or want to see how it stacks up against competitors like the MP5 or Ruger LC Charger, this video covers everything: reliability, suppressor performance, ammo availability, and why the P90 might be one of the most practical backpack guns ever. Also ... did I mention GoldenEye, Stargate, and Outer Heaven babe troopers from Metal Gear?

This is my interview with Steyr AUG developer Dr. Ingo Wieser. I sat down with Dr. Wieser, a key member of the Steyr AUG development team, to discuss his role in designing one of the most iconic bullpup rifles in history. We talk about the AUG's past, its evolution, and where he thinks the future of the assault rifle is headed. Filmed in Austria, this exclusive interview gives insight into the mind of a true firearms expert.

Welcome to TFB Weekly Web Deals 131! We’re back with more deals on guns, gear, ammunition, and accessories from some of our most frequented online retailers like Primary Arms, Natchez Shooters Supply, Palmetto State Armory, Brownells, and more. Whether you’re looking for deals on new or used guns, ammo to add to your reserves, or specific accessories like flashlights, range bags, optics, bipods, and magazines, each week we’ll have new sets of deals that might fulfill one of those needs and save you a few dollars.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new Victra-12 shotgun suppressor. This week, we are looking at the new silencers from BOE Suppression. They have finally made it out into the wild, and a few made it to me. Let’s take a first look.

The Glock clone market is alive and well and in a lot of ways is continuing to grow at an exponential rate. From the looks of things at SHOT Show 2025, the sheer amount of parts, options, and even serialized frames that are available for this common pistol footprint is not going to stop. In a lot of ways, the Glock Gen 3 clone market has reached the amount of customization options and DIY accessibility as the AR-15 market has. So it's only natural that Strike Industries would start their own firearms brand - Strike Arms (more about that here). I’ve been fortunate enough to receive not only one of the new Strike Arms SAP-C serialized frames, but Strike Industries was also kind enough to send along every other part needed for a DIY build - similar to what you’d do if you had ordered a bunch of AR-15 parts off of PSA. Today we’ll go over the cost of all the parts, what they offer compared to a stock Glock, and hopefully demonstrate just how easy it is to go from a box of parts into a functioning pistol in just one evening.

Photo Of The Day and we take a look at what’s going on in Russia. In January 2025, Kalashnikov Concern delivered the first batch of the upgraded Model 2023 AK-12 rifles to a customer, fulfilling scheduled government contracts. As the standard-issue service rifle of the Russian Armed Forces, the AK-12 is said to see widespread adoption, with annual production volumes remaining consistently high to meet ongoing military demand.

Ask an American shooter what the ultimate Fudd cartridge is, and they’ll probably tell you .30-30, or maybe .308 or .30-06. But if you ask in Africa, Australia, or Canada, they’ll probably tell you it’s the .303 British, and with good reason. By gross tonnage, it might have laid down more big game than all those other three cartridges put together.

In the jungles of Vietnam, US special forces started to deploy under-barrel grenade launchers with the philosophy of combining grenadier and rifleman “seamlessly” into one platform. Beginning development in 1964 with the GLAD project (Grenade Launcher Attachment Development), MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies, and Observation Group) operators were finally slung in 1967 with the XM148 grenade launchers under their XM177 carbines, the progenitors of the Colt Commando, M4 series, and arguably, the AKS-74U “Krinkov.” Just a year later, the US was fielding to great effect full-size M16s with the pump open XM203, instantly recognizable by its distinct cheese grater ventilated heat shield over the rifle’s barrel. Soviet intelligence quickly took notice of this development cycle, likely long before the weapon ended up in the hands of US operators.

Photo Of The Day and we take a closer look at the M110 KAC flow-through suppressor called M110-PRG mounted on a M110 SASS. It’s amazing how long these suppressors are, in a world of much shorter ones for the 7.62x51mm caliber. They certainly give the M110 that special look.

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we had some fun talking about what people carry depending on the car they drive. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to take a closer look at some trends when it comes to customizing guns as well as the overall size of carry guns. I get a fair amount of questions from readers about what size handgun they should pick when it comes to carrying a concealed handgun. Let’s take a look at how, in most cases, it’s better to carry fewer items and why less really is more.

In the increasingly competitive red dot market, closed emitter optics have been gaining popularity for their durability and protection against the elements. The Meprolight MCO PRO is a relatively new entry in this category, promising a combination of ruggedness and versatility. I had the opportunity to test this optic in the field, and here's what I found.