Handgun - Forgotten Weapons

Guns for the Pope’s Police: Mazzocchi Pinfire Revolver

January 22, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

The revolver we are looking at today is a 9mm pinfire revolver adopted for the Papal Gendarmerie in 1868. At that time, the Papal States controlled roughly the same amount of territory as Switzerland today, […]

The 1950 Marketing Contest to Name the S&W Chiefs Special

January 19, 2024 Ian McCollum 2

Today we’re taking a look at a Smith & Wesson Chiefs Special, but not just any Chiefs Special. This is serial number 29, factory engraved and gifted to Chief Edward Book of Passaic New Jersey […]

Hi-Point YC-9 Yeet Cannon at the BUG Match

January 13, 2024 Ian McCollum 10

Hi-Point finally released their double-stack YC-9 Yeet Cannon a few months ago, and they sent me one to try out so I figured I’d take it to the monthly BackUp Gun Match. The new YC-9 […]

Hogue Avenger vs M1911 at the Range

January 6, 2024 Ian McCollum 7

Yesterday we looked at where the Hogue Avenger came from and how it works; today I’m out at the range to test it out against a nicely customized M1911…

Hogue Avenger: Precision Accuracy Via Delayed Blowback

January 5, 2024 Ian McCollum 14

The Avenger is a flapper-delayed blowback, fixed barrel conversion upper assembly for the Model 1911 pistol. It was designed by Austrian Peter Spielberger, and manufactured by Hogue in the US and PowerSpeed in Austria. It […]

Replacing Beretta: the S&W XM10 Trials Pistol

December 29, 2023 Ian McCollum 38

When the US adopted the Beretta Model 92 as the new M9 standard issue handgun in 1985, it was not without controversy. In particular, there was a scandal of cracked and broken M9 slides shortly […]

Overview of Soviet Military Handguns: Nagant, Tokarev, Makarov

December 22, 2023 Ian McCollum 16

Today we are looking at an overview of Soviet military service sidearms. This begins with the Model 1895 Nagant revolver, inherited from the Czarist Russian Army. The Nagant was adopted as the standard Red Army […]

PMM: Russia’s Modernized Makarov (Now With 50% More Mag Capacity!)

December 16, 2023 Ian McCollum 4

Having served as the standard Soviet military sidearm for several decades, the PM Makarov was getting a bit obsolescent by the late 1980s. More of the world was using locked breech, 9x19mm service pistols but […]

The Pointless (and Dangerous) “Spetznaz” Makarov Holster

December 12, 2023 Ian McCollum 12

Today we have a look at the EFA-2k Makarov holster that was “made for Spetznaz”. I am extremely skeptical that any Spetznaz operator ever actually deployed with one of these things, though. It’s a holster […]

Just How Bad Is It? Vektor CP-1 at the BUG Match

December 9, 2023 Ian McCollum 5

Yesterday we looked at the history and the mechanics of the Vektor CP1, and today I’m taking it out to the monthly BackUp Gun Match. It isn’t a pistol with a good reputation, but it’s […]