Tactical Life December 2021

TACTICAL WEAPONS is the complete source for military, law enforcement and general shooting enthusiasts firepower - past, present and future. Published four times a year, each issue of TACTICAL WEAPONS is packed wiith exclusive guns-of-the-elite reviews on shotguns, combat handguns, battle rifles and long range precision weaponry, SWAT and personal defense tactics, reports from the front lines of GWOT and US Border Patrol, high-tech hardware and much more. TACTICAL WEAPONS is an absolutely essential piece of kit to keep you well armed, well informed and completely ready for duty!

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in this issue

IN THIS ISSUE

FIREPOWER REDEFINED

When it comes to taking great guns and making them even better, now seems to be the time for just such a reboot for several big firearms companies, as you’ll see within these pages. A perfect example is Smith & Wesson’s popular M&P15, a basic AR-15 that has been well known to get the job done no matter what the application. Smith’s newest model, the 15T II (see page 46) takes it far beyond the entry-level AR that the line was designed to be, adding all the bells and whistles necessary to make it a great carbine for personal defense and shooting sports. Incredibly, it still retains that entry-level price tag! And talk about reboots, how about the new FN SCARs, which do away with the reciprocating charging handle? Coverage…

2 min

DEPARTMENTS

GEAR UP!

ADAMS ARMS AA19 HANDGUN Well-known for being a top-quality piston-driven AR-platform firearms maker, Adams Arms has introduced a new 9mm handgun. The AA19 combines Adams Arms’ years of experience with handgun barrel and slide innovations with its mission of elevating firearm reliability and performance. Features include enhanced front and rear cocking serrations, a double undercut triggerguard, Ameriglo Defoor EDC sights, a profiled and lightened slide, and a threaded barrel. Additionally, the slide is cut for an optic. The pistol has an overall length of 7.6 inches and weighs 1.26 pounds empty. (adamsarms.net) BULLETSAFE BULLETPROOF VEST Made-in-the-USA and NIJ-Certified Level IIIA, the BulletSafe Vital Protection 3 (VP3) Vest is considered by the company to be its crowning achievement in its impressive collection of life-saving products. Easily concealed beneath a working uniform, this vest…

4 min

DEPARTMENTS

REAL AVID BORE-MAX SPEED CLEAN SYSTEM

EDITORS’ PICKS FOR NEW AND NOTEWORTHY GUNS AND GEAR If you think that cleaning your gun takes too much time and effort, the Bore-Max Speed Clean System from Real Avid includes brushes, jags and patches designed as a faster, easier way to clean a gun’s bore. With the Speed Jag and Speed Jag Patch, expect the same results in only one pass as you’d get pushing four or more traditional square patches through the bore. And with twice the bristle density of standard brushes, Bore-Max Speed Brushes deliver more than two times the scrubbing power to the bore with each pass. (realavid.com)…

1 min

DEPARTMENTS

EDC BUGOUT

The Benchmade Bugout has experienced dramatic popularity since its release in 2017. To be honest, it isn’t too hard to see why. It’s lightweight, slim and made of premium steels. What’s not to like about that? With its rise in popularity, the Bugout has also seen a lot of after-market options for customizing your own. Seeing this increase in demand for custom options, Benchmade decided to release a custom version of their own—the 535-3. They have also created a “build your own” customization process. The result is the chance to build the Bugout just the way you want it. BUGOUT 535-3 To be honest, even though the Bugout has been around for years I never owned one. I just wasn’t into blue scales. I have friends who have told me…

7 min

FEATURES

HIGHER POWER

IN 2018 Browning Arms announced that they were going to discontinue the Browning Hi-Power pistol. It was an ignominious ending for a gun that possessed such a storied history. Designed chiefly by the legendary John Moses Browning and refined by FN’s Dieudonné Saive, the Hi-Power was issued to the militaries of over 50 different countries after its introduction in 1935. It was used by both Allie and Axis powers during WWII, and it was also used by both communist and free nations during the Cold War. Elite military units like the British Special Air Services (SAS) used the pistol, as did the United States Special Operations Group (SOG). Even the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) used the gun at one point. Licensed and unlicensed Hi-Powers were built in countries like…

8 min

FEATURES

GRAND P-35 MASTERY

Originally designed to satisfy a French Army solicitation for a new pistol in the 1920s, the Browning Hi-Power heralded two new design concepts that would change the world of semi-automatics forever—a double-stack magazine and a frame-mounted, linkless cam to unlock the barrel. Belgian gunmaker Fabrique Nationale was already working with American gun designer John Browning at the time, so they hired him to develop a pistol based on the French criteria, which included a ballistics requirement that could only be met by the 9mm cartridge. The Mormon gun designer teamed with FN engineer Duiedonne Saive (who would go on to complete the Hi-Power after Browning’s death in 1926). Saive was the one who actually came up with the double-stack magazine design, not Browning. (Saive was no dummy. He invented the…

8 min