Gun Digest Buyer's Guide 2022 SIP #3

Are things getting “better,” or are they not? I stopped by a sandwich shop recently for lunch, and rather than being met with a smile and a greeting, I was met with a locked front door and a handwritten sign that read “Closed due to staffing issues.” That was in the middle of the day … on a Friday. Odd, right? Maybe everyone was out protesting something, somewhere. Or gas prices got so high that it’s not worth it for them to drive to work. Or they’re pitching in elsewhere to help alleviate the supply chain issues plaguing nearly every facet of the economy these days. Or, maybe—just maybe—they’re hunkered down at home, still hiding from the COVID headlines. The truth is, I don’t really care. Yes, it was an inconvenience to not…

HISTORICAL NOTES After a half-century of production, millions of shooters use Bill Ruger’s firearms—but only one very special pistol cartridge bears the man’s name. The .480 Ruger was never intended to be the biggest and heaviest-recoiling handgun cartridge on the block. It splits the difference between the .44 Remington Magnum and .454 Casull cartridges. GENERAL COMMENTS Using a Hornady 325-grain XTP Magnum bullet (diameter 0.475 inch) and Hornady brass, the .480 Ruger offers a significant velocity and energy increase over the .44 Remington Magnum cartridge, but without the recoil disadvantage of other super-powered handgun cartridges. The key to delivering the two-thirds of a ton of muzzle energy is a well-reasoned balance among bullet weight, velocity and operating pressure, in a cartridge derived from the venerable .45-70 case. The cartridge is chambered in Ruger’s rugged double-action…

If you pour over the pages of gun magazines or scour the internet, when it comes to everyday carry (EDC), you’ll find more than enough information on handguns and holsters. I’m not suggesting all this information is good information, just that there’s a lot of it. In most every EDC-type article, you’ll also see a reference to—or at least the encouragement of—carrying a reload. What you don’t see a lot of information on is specifics about how to carry that reload. Granted, an extra magazine for a defensive handgun isn’t all that heavy, but a double-staked 10-round magazine will approach about a half pound. So, what’s the best way to carry it? To answer that question, let’s first look at some considerations. First, you’ll need to decide if your magazine carrier needs to…

I shoot a lot, so I go through a lot of ammo. (No, I don’t have any extra I can send you.) One match, in particular, that I still compete in is The Pin Shoot, which calls for ammo in near cubic-foot quantities. Long ago, I gave up on cardboard boxes to store ammo and ended up with a room lined with shelves stuffed with plastic shoebox-sized containers—but they’re not durable enough to go on the road. MTM solved that problem. The X-Can Ammo Crate is a set of ammo cans in plastic, with a holding tray. I use X because they make them in three 50-caliber cans, and four and five .30-caliber cans. So, you have (and I have) three 50-caliber plastic ammo cans, in a durable tray that lets you pick…

On June 3, 2022, a Naperville, Illinois, police officer shot and killed a hatchet-wielding individual who stopped in the middle of the road and attacked without any warning, while the officer was interacting with the driver of another car he had stopped. This was caught on his body cam and is clearly a justified shooting—or is it? (To see the video, search “Naperville officer shoots attacker with axe” on YouTube.) If you watch the video, study it. You’ll see the deceased gets shot six times, three in the front of his torso as he runs at the officer—as the officer runs backward while firing—and the officer shoots him another three times while the deceased is on the ground … at that time clearly not a threat to the officer. WHEN TO STOP? I…

01 Sig Sauer P320-XTEN Some people are still staunch believers in the power of 10mm, but in our world where 9mm reigns king, their handgun options have been comparatively limited. With Sig Sauer’s release of the P320-XTEN, however, there’s one more solid option on the list. The P320-XTEN is essentially a full-size P320 in 10mm with XSeries features. The pistol sports a new XSeries grip frame with an extended beavertail, a flat-faced trigger and an optics-ready slide. The XTEN has a 15-round magazine capacity, and the 5-inch barrel will help to unlock the full potential of 10mm as well. MSRP: About $1,000 (not yet available) 02 Aimpoint Duty RDS Aimpoint sights are widely regarded as the gold standard of red-dot optics, but that reputation comes with a high price tag. Aiming to produce a…