Sommaire pour Issue 3 de GUNS

2021 and 2022 have been two years that Italian manufacturers of sporting and hunting guns will hardly forget. After a 2020 that didn’t go badly despite die difficulties associated with die Covid pandemic, Italian production literally exploded in the following two years. This is certified by the National proof house of Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia), the office belonging to the Cip (Permanent International Commission for die proof of firearms), to which die Italian government has entrusted the task of examining the regularity of guns placed on the Italian market. The last two years have recorded two consecutive records: in 2021, a total of 1,105,464 weapons have been subjected to hi-pressure testing, while in the following twelve months the total rose to 1,140,882. Numbers that include sporting and hunting long guns,…

TEST RIFLES JAKELE J1 ALL - TERRAIN In recent years many new straight-pull rifles have been introduced, due to the fact that this type of firearm combines the accuracy of a bolt-action with a relatively high rate of fire. Straight-pull rifles are also not limited by the hunting regulations that apply to semi-automatic rifles. Jakele is a Bavarian manufacturer who has decided to introduce a very modern and functional straight-pull hunting rifle, made using high quality materials and with an excellent intrinsic accuracy. The rifle has just arrived in Italy and we certainly couldn’t miss the opportunity to try it for you! How it's made The version we tried is called All-Terrain and it’s characterized by an olive green (also available in brown) polymer thumbhole stock. The heart of the…

TEST RIFLES VICTRIX SCEPTER V IN .338 LAPUA MAGNUM The idea behind Victrix’s new Scepter was to design a high-end long range rifle that could be used both by novices and experts. The company wanted to achieve this goal with a mass-produced rifle that retains the features of a custom gun. The result is the Scepter V, where the “V” identifies Victrix’s top of the line models. Just to refresh your memory: V rifles are equipped with the best features that Victrix has to offer, T rifles are Victrix’s “mid-range” products, while the suffix X identifies entry level models. In addition, the Scepter V is part of the Sporting line, which includes all the rifles made for precision shooting competitions (F-Class, PRS, medium and long range shooting). On the other…

French company Manurhin became a famous name in the gun industry during the 1950s, when it started to make the Walther PP, PPK and P38. In more recent times, Manurhin has become legendary for its revolvers, produced since the 1970s, which were able to compete with US-made models thanks to their exceptional build quality, great accuracy and unique elegance. In particular, we can’t forget the “flagship” MR73, followed fifteen years later by the MR88, which was inspired by the construction methodology of the Ruger GP100, aimed at containing costs while guaranteeing top quality. For twenty years, Manurhin has been part of French company Chapuis, which in turn was acquired by Beretta Holding. After years of absence from the Italian market, the legendary Manurhin revolvers are back in our gun shops,…

MILITARY RIFLES OHIO ORDNANCE WORKS 1918A3 SLR The Browning BAR 1918 light machine gun, in its various versions, represents one of the cornerstones of twentieth century gun design: born, like dozens of other weapons that have become immortal classics, from the ingenious mind of John Moses Browning, within its specific category it is undoubtedly one of the most successful, longest-used and conceptually most “modern” firearms. The firearm was designed in conjunction with the entry of the United States into WWI, when the armies had already understood that, beyond the fundamental role of machine guns, which were capable of impressive firepower but also extremely heavy and difficult to move, there was the need for a weapon capable of accompanying the soldiers during their attacks, increasing the firepower of the rifle squad…

TEST SEMI-AUTO HANDGUNS BERETTA APX A1 In 2017 Beretta unveiled the APX, its first polymer striker-fired full-size handgun. The gun was designed to take part in the MHS (Modular Handgun System) competition, solicited by the US Army to find an heir to the legendary Beretta M9 (the competition would later be won by the Sig P320, which was adopted with the names M17 and M18). To tell the truth, the APX was first shown at the beginning of 2015, during Idex Show in Abu Dhabi, but the gun had its real debut at the 2017 edition of Hit Show in Vicenza. Last May Beretta USA showed the A1 version, which is an upgraded APX. Beretta technical team, which also includes engineer Giovanni Prandini, has taken into account the feedbacks that…

The Jakele J1 is currently available in four versions. We tested the “basic” version, called All-Terrain, which is available with a green or brown polymer ambidextrous thumbhole stock. There are also two wood versions: the Alpin has a thumbhole stock and a glossy black polymer tip on the fore-end, while the Alpin Bavaria has a traditional stock and a Bavarian-style cheek rest. The wood ranges from grade 5 to 6, but the customer can also choose higher quality wood (up to grade 11). The All-Terrain version has a polymer bolt knob with the company logo in relief (an ibex head), while the wood versions have a walnut knob. Anodized aluminum knobs with gold or silver inserts are also available. The standard trigger is black but a golden trigger is also…

The latest Magnus muzzle brake was designed specifically for the calibers adopted by the Scepter. The result of two years of development work, the six chambers of the Magnus reduce felt recoil but, above all, they reduce by 96% the amount of gas behind the bullet, eliminating possible destabilizing effects and reducing sound pressure on the shooter by about 12 decibels. The brake features a self-centering mounting system with an M18x1 metric thread. Two versions are available: one made of AISI 630 stainless steel and the other made of a super lightweight titanium-based alloy. The Magnus is 94 mm long (3.7″), 36 mm wide (1.4″) and 34 mm tall (1.3″). Itweighs 280 grams (9.8 oz.). The price on ROME’S online store is 390 euros (romeaccessories.it).…

With the Absolute 5-40×56, Konus offers a high-performance sport/tactical scope: not only for its impressive 5-40 magnification range, but above all for the use of high-quality ED lenses that are fully multi-coated to ensure maximum light transmission with no chromatic aberration. Furthermore, the external surfaces of the lenses have a hydrophobic coating that repels water. With these features you have a very versatile and capable scope for long-range shooting, to which we must add Konus’ famous price/quality ratio. How it’s made The scope has a 30 mm tube, it’s 400 mm long (15.7″) and it can be mounted on rifles with short, long and magnum actions thanks to the 80 mm (3,1″) space for the front ring, while the space for the rear ring is approximately 55 mm (2.1″). The…

With over 3 million Nics Background check requests (the verification, through the FBI database, of any reason impeding the purchase of guns) in the month of december alone, 2022 reached a total of 31,596,646 requests, from January 1st to December 31st. The Background check (or Instant check) is a rather reliable indicator (although it does not cover all individual arms transactions, especially those between private owners) on arms sales made in the United States, it can be concluded that 2022 is the third best all-time year for civilian arms trade in the federation. The absolute first in ranking is 2020, with 39,695,315 Background check requests, followed closely by 2021, with 38,876,673. To reach the fourth best result, we need to go back to the pre-pandemic period, with just over 28…

The Black Eagle is the most recent semi-auto shotgun made by Benelli. As you can easily guess from the name, the shotgun is based on the famous Super Black Eagle, which was designed with 3 ½” 12-gauge shells in mind, a common waterfowl ammunition for American hunters. On the other hand, the Black Eagle was developed for 3” 12-gauge shells, a caliber that is more suitable for Italian hunters. The two shotguns share the same design and some technical solutions: in particular, the Black Eagle has inherited its progenitor’s ruggedness, making it perfect for those hunts where you shoot many rounds. The 12-gauge Black Eagle was quickly followed by a 20-gauge version and this year Benelli has chosen to complete the series with a surprise: a 28-gauge version. This is…

There is a new entry in Tanfoglio’s Stock family: it’s called Stock III Pro. It’s not a new model (the Stock III was launched ten years ago), but a refined version that allows this pistol to take a leap forward in terms of quality With three models and several versions made specifically for action shooting, Tanfoglio can currently count on a truly impressive catalogue of competition handguns: the Stock I, the Stock II, which has won many championships around the world, and the Stock III. In particular, the Stock II and Stock III can count on different configurations: the Stock II is available in the Xtreme and optics-ready versions, while the Stock III can be bought in the Xtreme version or in the brand-new Pro configuration, which is about to…

We have been waiting for it for a long time and for several years Italian shooters have been talking about it. After having seen it in a “disguised” version and in the hands of some of the most talented Italian shooters, finally the new Beretta over-and-under for skeet shooting has been unveiled to the general public. It is called SL2, where the abbreviation SL stands for Sovrapposto Lusso (luxury over-and-under), while the number 2 is part of Beretta’s recent logic of assigning an odd number to shotguns intended for hunting and even one to those intended for sport shooting. This is the tenth competition platform made by Beretta and it is a clay shooting version of the SL3 hunting shotgun, with which it partially shares the mechanical solutions, albeit combined…

Brocock is a British company specialized in the production of air rifles. Like its “sister” Daystate, Brocock is owned by the Italian group Marocchi - Cd Europe. The company offers a series of high-quality air rifles that are made mainly for young shooters; their unique polymer stocks have a “tactical” design that borrows some components from the AR15 platform, such as the grip, the collapsible stock and so on. The Brocock Sniper XR is a modern and elegant air rifle and we had the chance to review it. How it's made The rifles of the Brocock XR series share several technical solutions, so many components are interchangeable. Two in particular are the most evident common denominators: the first is the straight-pull action, while the second is the “semi bullpup” configuration,…

When we serve prime venison, we usually have high-quality side dishes, since many delicious vegetables are grown in Italy This time I decided to combine tasty venison with a delicate vegetable that you might not know: Cantello asparagus. This unique asparagus is grown only in the small town of Cantello, in the north of Italy, and is characterized by its white color. Cantello asparagus can also be eaten raw, as it does not have the typical bitter aftertaste of green asparagus. The first documents about this type of asparagus date back to the early 19th century and they are stored in Cantello’s historical archive. Over the years, this vegetable became quite famous, so much so that it was also sold in nearby Switzerland and in 1939 the Cantello asparagus fest…