RECOIL Presents: Concealment

Trends can be hard to see in the moment because it’s difficult to read the label while you’re inside the bottle. But further down the line you can look back and see where things came from. Compensated pistols first saw a surge in the 1980s, and in the latter half of the 2010s they cropped up yet again. What’s happening now is the third wave; instead of crude boxes mashed onto muzzles, they’re slick, integrated, and streamlined right into the design. Just like the ones back in the 1980s, some of them work very well while others are merely more than makeup. There are two compensated offerings for your consideration in this issue: Iain Harrison has the Canik TTI Combat on page 70 and Steven Kuo a compensated not-a-Glock Glock…

1 BEAR OPS MINI RANCOR IX bearandsoncutlery.com HANDLE COLORS: Black, Desert Sand, OD Green MSRP: Starting at $90 NOTES: Bear OPS, a division of Bear & Son Cutlery, proves you can still make blades in the United States and offer them for reasonable prices. While the Alabama-based company still makes expensive tools — like Damascus-steel balisongs — it also offers entry-level blades for less than a Benjamin. Take the Mini Rancor IX. It features a lightweight Zytel handle with a tip-up, reversible pocket-clip. The drop-point, 2.25-inch blade is made of D2, a wear-resistant tool steel that isn’t quite stainless but pretty close. You can deploy it with thumb studs or the flipper tab and close it by disengaging the slide lock. With an overall length of 6 inches, the Mini Rancor IX is a compact folder…

The subject of this Crapshoot came from a batch of police trade-ins from the evidence locker. Most were useless junk guns, but this Ruger New Model Single-Six was a mere $159. The reason for the low price was the barrel; a 3-inch section was thoroughly covered in rust and badly pitted. Its sole cylinder was .22 Magnum. One hell of a deal with a little elbow grease and a true crapshoot! BACKGROUND This revolver may have been one of the more popular revolvers of all time in the U.S. civilian market. It’s a single-action solid frame rimfire revolver based on the famous Colt Single Action Army of 1873. Unlike the original Colt model or Ruger’s first iteration, the New Model has a transfer bar, allowing the shooter to carry a fully loaded cylinder as…

C&G HOLSTERS IWB COVERT ALPHA candgholsters.com FITS: Wide range of semi-auto pistols, from 1911s to Walthers (refer to website for list of fitments) MSRP: $80 NOTES: C&G Holsters recently unveiled their GEN6 family of holsters, incorporating everything they’ve learned to date — from features and functionality to manufacturing processes. It includes the IWB Covert Alpha holster shown here, designed specifically for inside-the-waistband carry. It’s a taco-style holster, with a Kydex shell contoured to provide a snug fit for your gun, a slim profile, and ergonomics to make it both comfortable and conceal well. The holster is formed to accommodate both tall suppressor-height sights as well as optics. Long barrels, slides, and compensators can all protrude from the open bottom. Retention is adjustable, as is the cant. Our sample holster for the SIG P365XL shown here features C&G’s…

Here’s the history of the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge according to the internet: Once upon a time there was the 9x19mm cartridge, but it was weak and girly and didn’t kill bad guys in Miami during the FBI’s big gunfight there in 1986. So then came the 10mm Auto, but its recoil was horrible, and FBI agents were weak and girly and couldn’t handle it. So then came the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge. The .40 had so much more “stopping power” than the 9mm that all the police departments adopted it in the mid ’90s, but then bullet technology made 9mm better and so all the police departments went back to 9mm in the late ’00s. The end. But that’s not how it happened. At all. REAL HISTORY Here’s the…

In the 1600s, John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” While Donne was waxing poetic about the human condition, his fundamental premise applies to our everyday lives. Whether a spouse, family member, or friend, we’re frequently at home, work, or out and about with other people. And at any time we may find ourselves in a potentially life-threatening situation. However low the probability, we might someday be faced with a carjacking, robbery, or an active killer. As stressful as it might be when alone, the stakes are even higher when a loved one is also involved. On the other hand, having a partner to work with is a force multiplier, with the potential to…