Combat Handguns July/August 2021

As long as there are firearms and gun folk, there will forever be all manner of debate. What’s better, a Government 1911 in .45 ACP or an Officer’s model loaded to the gills with 9mm? Open carry versus concealed? Polymer or steel? Laser sights, optics or irons? Inside the waistband or OWB holsters? What’s the best caliber for a pistol-braced AR? How many backup guns are enough? Revolvers versus semi-autos? What’s the best home-defense gun platform—shotgun, rifle or handgun? Toward the tail end of any of these heated discussions, the upshot is always dependent on personal preference for whatever job the gun owner is preparing to face, be it personal-defense, competition/sporting, law enforcement or military applications. That’s why Combat Handguns’ editorial team aims to run the gamut every issue in…

Your antagonist attempts to run you over with a car or truck. Is it considered deadly force? Does it warrant your recourse to a defensive firearm? In September of 2020, in what we’ll use as Case One, prosecutors announced that they would not bring charges against a man who had shot and killed a car thief in Miami Beach, Florida, two years before. A middle-aged man named Stephen Allen Lott had taken his boss’s luxury SUV, a G-class Mercedes-Benz, to a car wash. As the vehicle emerged, now clean, Jose Antonio Reyes Bermudez, 58, jumped into it and attempted to drive it away. Lott, licensed to carry a gun, drew a pistol from his pants pocket and stood in the path of the vehicle, hoping its driver would stop. Instead,…

KERSHAW RANDOM LEEK BLACKWASH A new blade shape and an all-Black-Wash look bring the newest Leek to the next level. With its 3-inch blade, Kershaw’s Random Leek - BlackWash is a good-sized knife, but not too big. The reverse tanto blade shape adds durability and provides an ideal angle for cutting through boxes and other everyday jobs, while the BlackWash finish gives the Random Leek an already-broken-in look. Overall length of the assisted-opening knife is 7 inches, and it weighs just 2.9 ounces. (kershawknives.com) CAA USA MICRO CONVERSION KITS A designer, developer and distributor of modern tactical accessories and handgun conversion kits, CAA USA is expanding its Micro Conversion Kit (MCK) product line to include conversions for Glock 26/27; GLOCK 43, 43X and 48; Glock 21; and Springfield XD, XDM,…

CZ-USA manufactures and imports some of the finest firearms and firearm accessories available on the market today. Pistols, shotguns, rifles and suppressors all fall under the CZ-USA umbrella, as well as the highly coveted 1911s and revolvers made by Dan Wesson. CZ-USA has been headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, since 1998, consistently growing and proving to be one of the most formidable brands in the firearms industry today. CZ-USA also has a very large, die-hard fan base of firearm owners who swear by their brand, which brings us to CZ-USA’s Jared Fox. Fox works for CZ-USA as an inside sales representative, handling dealer sales for the Northeast region of the country from Ohio through Maine. Not only is Fox an employee of CZ-USA/Dan Wesson Firearms, but he has also been…

One of the hottest carry pistols to hit the market in the past couple of years was Sig Sauer’s P365, and by extension, the slightly larger and higher capacity P365XL. With its revolutionary magazine design, the P365 was essentially built around the magazine to be a high-capacity, micro-compact pistol that was just as easy to carry as it was to shoot. With solid ergonomics, a good sight package and excellent-for-size controls (not to mention the 10+1 capacity), the P365 series has proven to be extremely popular with concealed carriers. As good as those pistols are, and as with all other things, there was still some space left for improvement. The folks at Zev Technologies make their living by setting up shop in that kind of space to tweak aesthetics, improve…

COMPETITION IS A WONDERFUL THING! In an unrestricted market, competition ensures that consumers get the best products and services for the best price. This is especially true in the firearms industry. A good case in point is the Sig P365. Introduced in 2018, the gun possessed petite dimensions yet had a magazine that offered shooters 10 rounds of 9mm. It shot well, carried even better and retailed for what everyone thought was a fair price. Fifteen or so months later, Springfield Armory introduced the Hellcat, which they billed as the highest capacity micro-compact available—13+1 capacity with its extended mag or 11+1 with its flush fit magazine. Both of these guns did not go unnoticed by Ruger, who has just introduced their MAX-9 micro-compact that comes with a 10-round flush-fit magazine…