Year-End Issues Of American Handgunner & GUNS Wrap Up 2023
Production on the year-end issues of American Handgunner and GUNS Magazine is in full swing and there’s no better time than now to reserve space to advertise holiday sales and promotions, new-for-2024 products and prepare to close out the year on top.
Gracing the cover of Nov/Dec Handgunner is the first entrant from Ed Brown’s new Fueled Series. According to the Ed Brown website, the series starts “with a platform that shares the characteristics we desire — ergonomics, functionality and reliability. We break it down to its foundation and begin putting it back together, applying our lifetimes of experience to redesign and remanufacture each of the key components for optimal performance.”
“The trigger that comes on this pistol out of the box is kinda like the one you’d install, but as a significant aftermarket upgrade. It’s glorious.”
Editor Tom McHale reviews the first platform to debut: The S&W M&P 2.0. He notes, “The trigger that comes on this pistol out of the box is kinda like the one you’d install, but as a significant aftermarket upgrade. It’s glorious. On one of my shooting days, I was testing both this pistol and a standard service configuration of another make and … wow, this trigger system will spoil you rotten.”
Some Of The Best Things In Life
Evoking the days of the American Frontier, Taylor’s & Co.’s 1875 Outlaw 9mm delivers Old West style with 2023 flair. “As one might expect, Taylor’s 1875 features a beautiful forged blued steel frame and barrel, a two-piece walnut grip and the gun’s characteristic webbed ejector rod tube,” lends Will Dabbs, MD. “However, that’s where the old stuff ends. This 1875 is chambered for the more modern 9mm Parabellum cartridge. The synergistic combination of the Taylor’s 1875 Outlaw and the 9mm Parabellum is the perfect solution to some unique defensive challenges.”
Dr. Dabbs also provides an overview of the Canik Mete MC9 — a “micro compact carry gun for smart people.” A fan of the Canik handguns, Dabbs contends the Mete line is like a DIY gunman kit: in addition to a quality firearm, it includes a polymer holster, a spare magazine, cleaning gear — and a reasonable price tag.
It’s been two years since upscale knife maker Spartan Blades incorporated Pineland Cutlery into its fold to offer affordable cutlery options. Pat Covert provides an update on the growth of the business with insights from co-founder Curtis Iovito, who shares, “We have introduced several new products into distribution with distributors such as Blue Ridge Knives and Davidson’s, allowing for the ease of purchase by small gun shops and retailers, which has added to growth.”
Small-game hunting is often overlooked and unappreciated by many handgun hunters. Squirrels can be most challenging — and downright humbling — to hunt, especially with a rimfire handgun, as Mark Hampton explores in the Handgun Hunting column.
Some of the best things in life are small. Take for instance the Colt “Vest Pocket” 1908 Auto — a very small pocket pistol built at the turn of the last century designed by John Browning chambered in .25 caliber — which he also designed. Greg Derr highlights an example from 1917 in the Pistolsmithing installment.
Elsewhere in the final issue of 2023, John Taffin takes a closer look at the Ruger Wrangler Convertible, Massad Ayoob details the handguns of the Texas Rangers in Cop Talk and Gunsite’s Ken Campbell illustrates the effects of stress students have exhibited during instruction in Make Ready.
CLICK HERE for more July 2023 FMG Inside News
Freedom Arms Model 97
According to GUNS Editor Brent T. Wheat, High-end single-action revolver lovers will go “gaga” over the November 2023 cover gun, the Freedom Arms Model 97. Located “in a scenic mountain valley in Western Wyoming,” Freedom Arms is known for its premium-quality single-action and single-shot handguns. During his test drive, Roy Huntington found the revolver to have a lock-up tighter than a miser’s coin purse and a level of accuracy bordering supernatural — all contained in a handcrafted package smoother to the touch than a polished river stone.
“During his test drive, Roy Huntington
found the revolver to have a lock-up tighter
than a miser’s coin purse and a level of accuracy
bordering supernatural …”
Staying with the Western theme, Alan Garber waxes poetic about the Copper Queen. No, she isn’t a female miner or some type of “sporting lady” who works for pennies. A Copper Queen is a Colt handgun — typically, but not always, a Colt Single Action Army — which was shipped to and sold from Copper Queen Mercantile, the company store at the eponymous mine in Bisbee, Arizona Territory. The company sold enough guns in the rough-and-tumble frontier mining camps to become a direct distributor for Colt. Now, 125+ years later, a collector who finds a pistol or revolver verifiable as a Queen has a direct link to the final days of the Old West — and a valuable investment.
The Gamut Of Guns,
Gear And Great Stories
In another November feature, Mike “Duke” Venturino shares his love for the .32-30 cartridge. Once a common caliber for revolvers in the heyday of cowboys, rustlers, gamblers and other assorted Western characters, Duke explains why modern shooters shouldn’t overlook this link to the folkways of the wide-open spaces.
Switching gears into tactical overdrive, Will Dabbs, MD discusses finding and fixing a submachine gun classic: the Military Armament Corporation Model 10, more commonly known as the Mac 10. Will found a derelict M10 languishing in an online brokerage and shares details on how he resurrected the reject into something both historical and a hoot to shoot.
Finally, if you’ve ever daydreamed about “what could have been,” John Taffin explores the theme in his story of “Fantasy Remingtons” — those great guns which never existed except in the imaginations of shooters.
GUNS Nov. columns run the gamut of guns, gear and great stories with topics ranging from “Maximizing your Marlin” lever gun by Jeff “Tank” Hoover to bullet casting, the Savage 23-B rifle and the CRKT Cross Lock Knife. Don’t miss Tom Keer’s Shotguns column on the Famars Ronbo. This is not to be confused with Farmer Rambo — one is an unusual four-barrel bespoke shotgun from Italy while the other is a chemically engorged rural action-movie character. It shouldn’t be hard to guess which one proves more useful …
Reach customers on time for the holiday shopping season by reserving space today: Contact your rep or FMG Sales before the July 12 (Handgunner) and July 17 (GUNS) close dates.
CLICK HERE for more July 2023 FMG Inside News
