Gun Digest May 2021

For years, the 9mm has held the undisputed people’s champ title among folks looking to strap a firearm to their hip in the name of personal protection. And it makes sense: The 9mm is capable of offering decent stopping power (with acceptable recoil) in a package that boasts the capacity and concealability to be comfortable yet impactful if needed. And, once the ball of public opinion gets rolling, it takes a whole lot of something to derail that momentum. This same concept—a ballistically “acceptable” caliber that’s available in a platform that hits the sweet spot of capacity and recoil management—holds equally true across most other disciplines as well. When it comes to ARs, the 5.56 NATO is king; if you don’t believe me, then go and try to find a box…

HISTORICAL NOTES The .416 Rigby began life as a proprietary cartridge, introduced by John Rigby in 1911 for magnum Mauser-action rifles. The cartridge and rifle quickly established a solid record of reliability on dangerous game that endures to this day. Over the years, many makers have built rifles around this cartridge. Today, John Rigby & Co., in conjunction with Mauser, is again producing .416 rifles on German magnum Mauser actions that are close copies of the originals. Also, CZ, Kimber and other outfits make .416 Rigby rifles. Several companies produce .416 Rigby ammunition. GENERAL COMMENTS The .416 Rigby is one of the best magazine-rifle cartridges for big game ever developed. At its inception, it was almost unique, with only the .404 Jeffery having similar power. Today, we also have the .400 H&H Magnum,…

Many who reached maturity in the new millennium have no idea who Jeff Cooper was or know about his contributions to the gun world. It could be argued that Cooper and his doctrine were the genesis of an entire industry. Name anyone who is a somebody in the firearms business, relative to defensive firearm craft or equipment, and there’s a connection either directly or indirectly Jeff Cooper. How could one man and one place be so influential? John Dean “Jeff” Cooper was born in 1920. After graduating from Stanford, he received a commission in the Marine Corps and served in World War II and the Korean War. Later, Cooper established the Leatherslap Competitions in Big Bear Lake, California. Those shooting matches would evolve into the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) of which…

One of the fussy, fiddly and sometimes frustrating details of an AR-15 build is getting the gas block straight and in the right spot. Oh, if you’re putting the A-frame front sight back, with its original taper pins, you can’t get it wrong. (Unless you put the pins in backward. Yep, seen that.) But going to a low-profile gas block, or putting a gas block on a bare barrel, as the initial build? It can be annoying. Well, here’s where Gas Block Genie comes to the rescue. The Genie is one of those simple items that, once you see it, you wonder why it took so long to invent—and why hadn’t you (or us) invented it years ago? SIMPLE MAGIC The Genie is simply a plastic gauge that lets you locate the exact spot…

When it comes to concealed carry pistols, the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield has fostered a fairly dedicated following. No surprise. The striker-fired, polymer-frame handgun is among the most reliable, concealed and affordable options to come down the pike. That ticks off a lot of boxes. Now, it’s set to get even better. Smith & Wesson recently introduced the newest addition to the line—the M&P Shield Plus. As its name suggests, the 9mm offers a bit more than previous iterations, in particular enhanced capacity in a micro-compact package. And, boy howdy, does it offer quite a bit of firepower for its class of handgun, feeding off a 13-round magazine. As to its size, the Shield Plus comes in at a very manageable 6.1 inches in length, 1.1 inches in width and 20…

On February 20, 2021, Joshua Williams entered the Jefferson Gun Outlet, a combination gun shop and indoor shooting range. He was visibly armed with a pistol and extended magazine, according to surveillance camera footage released by the Jefferson County Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff’s Department. When asked by store employees to go back outside and unload the pistol (as was store policy), Williams moved to the door, fired one shot outside the store, and then turned the gun into the store and shot and killed 59-year-old Veronica Billiot, a store customer. Williams then left the store for a moment, but quickly re-entered and shot and killed a store employee, 47-year-old Noah Fischbach. He then left the store again, and at that time several store employees confronted Williams and, engaging in a shootout with…