Read More

Beretta 71: Wet-Work Wonder

The Beretta 71 was a fairly common plinker in the 1950s and well regarded. The Model 71 is a fixed-barrel, open-slide blowback .22 Long Rifle pistol. The little 17-ounce Italian single-action autos dried up when the Gun Control Act of 1968 made little guns into “bad guns” and ceased importation of many small handgun models. The 71 essentially became a secondhand-market curiosity for Beretta fans.
Read More

Nine Inches of .30-Cal Thumpery: Bravo Company Mfg Recce-9 KMR-A Pistol

I’ve spent most of the year shooting the BCM AR pistol, monkeying with different holds and techniques and generally seeing what the gun could do. I compared it head-to-head with a new, box-stock Glock 17 across pages of pistol drills. I stretched it out to carbine applications and compared it to a ROBAR PolymAR-15L I’ve been running. After a healthy pile of brass and a stack of data, I’ve got some idea of what it will and won’t do.