The New (Shotgun) Renaissance

Benelli’s Super Vinci Blends Art and Engineering

There is little doubt that Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most brilliant minds in history, a true polymath, a master of anatomy, engineering, painting, writing and mathematics. Because of this impressive resume, any company that applies the name of Vinci to their product line invites immediate comparison with the lofty inventor and artist.

Benelli’s Super Vinci, like its counterpart the 3-inch-chambered Vinci, certainly defies traditional shotgun styling cues. Sharp, angular lines give the Super Vinci an avant-garde look, with a steeply angled pistol grip, a geometric trigger guard that flows into the receiver, a gradually narrowing finger groove on the fore end, and integrated sling studs.

Brad Fitzpatrick

Unlike most shotguns, which bear a clear distinction between the receiver, fore end, and barrel, the lines of the Super Vinci seem incongruous; the fore end and trigger guard are connected, and the top of the receiver is separated from the bottom of the receiver and the trigger guard. This gun displays unconventional styling cues, and traditionalists are likely to be put off at first by the modern aesthetic. In fact, the Super Vinci makes even the Benelli Super Black II seem slightly pedestrian, and it was once considered the model of edgy shotgun styling. However, the Super Vinci is a classic example of form following function. The gun handles extremely well and points naturally.

I had a chance to test the Super Vinci on Texas waterfowl with Joe Coogan, of Benelli and Tim Brandt, of Federal Premium Ammunition. We were hunting the secluded lakes of Matagorda Island, in the Gulf along the coast of Texas, joined by Chris Martin and his team from Bay Flats Lodge.

Just before shooting light, we had a flock of ducks (pintails, by our guide T.J. Christensen’s best estimate) drop down out of the darkness and settle with a splash at the far end of the decoys. It wasn’t long before the next group came piling into the decoys, a mixed group of gadwall and teal that locked up and fell from the sky into our spread.

 “Get ready,” T.J. said, holding a call on the edge of his mouth and watching until the ducks finally committed and dropped down just above the water.

“Take ‘em!”

I rose up alongside Tim Brandt and outdoor writer Bryce M. Towsley, and we started firing as the ducks neared the decoys. The first Black Cloud shell I fired put a gadwall down (at least I believe it was my shot). Soon afterwards more birds began appearing in large numbers, pouring into the decoys.

“Be ready for them,” T.J. said. He hunkered down in the blind and blew the nasally pintail whistle as a flock of birds appeared out of the blinding light of the rising sun. The birds committed to the decoys and locked up, dropping down out of the sky into our spread. When they were almost to the water T.J. shouted, “Pintails! Now! Take them now!”

I stood up and caught the white flash of a drake pintail wheeling in the sky, his white belly flashing against the blue sky. I shouldered the Super Vinci and pulled the bead ahead of the arching pintail’s bill, pressing the trigger and watching as the drake’s wings folded and he sailed down into the water.

Over the course of the morning I put almost a full box of Black Cloud FS Steel 1 1/4” through the Super Vinci, a potent load that proved excellent for Texas ducks. And, to my great relief, I wasn’t battered by the recoil. And although I can’t personally vouch for the recoil reduction figures put forth by the engineers at Benelli, I can certainly tell you that I’ve never gone through a box of heavy 3” loads with less discomfort.

Would Leonardo give the nod to his new namesake shotgun? I think so. After all, Leonardo was a fan of engineering and artistry, and the Super Vinci has plenty of both.

By Brad Fitzpatrick

Deep Concealment

There were Ankle Holsters, then so-called ‘Tuckables,’ but Nothing Beats a Pistol in your Pocket!

I began thinking about a deep concealment rig when I watched “The French Connection” for about the fifteenth time, just to watch Gene Hackman dive behind a tree to duck rounds fired by a rooftop sniper while reaching down to draw a snubbie .38 Special revolver from that holster on his ankle.

Later on, I carried an old Chief’s Special in an ankle rig that fit very well inside of my cowboy boot while working as an editor at a small weekly newspaper. I occasionally carried a flatter .32-caliber Beretta semiauto the same way, and the notion of having a pistol that nobody could detect in a place they wouldn’t be looking was both intriguing and very practical.

Such pistols are handy, within reach at all times, and unnoticeable because most people don’t walk around staring at someone’s ankles…and the holster allows you have your gun in an emergency. I knew a female attorney who carried a revolver in an ankle holster, and with the proper slacks, one could not tell. Ditto a female cop.

CONCEALMENT FOR WOMEN

There are a couple of companies that build handbags and purses with special compartments for handguns. Such bags are worth the money when balanced against one’s safety. And, as noted earlier, most people don’t look for a hidden handgun—the average scumbag is surprised when an intended victim turns out to be armed and willing to shoot.

Some time back I chatted with a lady in real estate who tipped me to the fact that several of her female colleagues carried pistols on the job. There have been cases of real estate agents being robbed or murdered, and female realtors are often concerned about sexual assault, too.

Over the years, there have been some interesting products for women, including bra holsters and thigh holsters for very small pistols.

THE “TUCKABLE” HOLSTER

Years ago, a guy asked me to build a holster over which he could tuck a shirt. I diddled around with the project and it eventually turned into something copied by several other people; somewhere along the way it was dubbed the “tuckable.”

This was, and remains, a rig built for small handguns. The original prototypes were for a J-frame and a Walther PPK. I’ve had guys ask me to make them for Government Models and I turned them down. The biggest gun I’d ever suggest for such a rig is maybe an Officer’s Model or similar Kimber or Springfield compact.


Integral Holsters

One of the more intriguing options for pocket carry includes the integral pocket holster, like the Pocket Shot made by DeSantis. These holsters fit to your pistol semi-permanently, meaning that you can remove them when you want, but they’re intended to allow proper firing, cycling, and reloading, with the holster affixed to the gun. They don’t provide auxiliary protection for your trigger—like most traditional holsters—and won’t keep out the lint and grit, but they serve a larger purpose: to provide a low-drag, integral method of concealing the shape of your handgun for pocket carry! --Editor

For more information: www.desantisholster.com

Wallet-Printing
 Most pocket holsters are designed in a rectangular size and shape that fits your pocket—and their purpose—quite well.

When you sit down, the contents of your pants pockets “print” through the fabric, clearly showing their outline—keys, a phone, a pocket knife… If you intend to sit down in public, your gun will “print” its unmistakable outline unless you have it in a holster.

Pocket holsters are designed to approximate the size and shape of a wallet, so that even the most intent observer will think you’ve merely placed your wallet in a front pocket. --Editor

Workman’s deep cover rig has generically been called a “tuckable” because you wear it with a shirt tucked over the hidden sidearm. This is Mitch Rosen’s superb rendition.

When An Active Shooter Goes On a Rampage, Employ These Survival Measures

Another mass shooting massacre.

This, like the others, took more innocent victims.

Everyone seems preoccupied with asking so many questions in an attempt to understand why these perpetrators kill and who is to blame: parents, media, video games, guns or the economy? These are all the wrong questions!

Men, women and children worldwide have been the victims of such attacks for years. The massacres in Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Aurora, Mumbai, India; Beslan, Russia; Tuusula, Finland; Utoya Island, Norway; Toulouse, France and many others are tragic examples of the threat that shooters pose to public safety.

Yet, many people chose to ignore the risk by assuming that such attacks will not happen or believing that they can be protected by local law enforcement.
These are dangerous assumptions.

FULL SECURITY

We all know that there is no such thing as 100% security, and no one knows where and when the next attack will occur.

Active shooters and terrorists always attack the most vulnerable targets. They plan their attacks meticulously and over a long period of time and exploit weaknesses in security systems. They attack with surprise and their goal is to inflict the largest number of casualties as quickly as possible. That is why most casualties in these incidents occur during the first 10 minutes, before law enforcement intervention.
Whether the shooter is a mentally derange person, a religious fanatic, a vengeful employee or an outcast student, they all use similar tactics and the results are always the same: large scale death and suffering.
As community leaders, business managers, teachers and parents, we are in a position of trust. If we do not act responsibility, we are failing those who put their trust in us and accept the loss of innocent lives. Doing nothing to prepare and accepting defeat is unethical and un-American. As Americans, we do not give in or give up. We know that life is sacred and we fight for what is right. A mass murderer killing innocent men, women and children is wrong!

It is time we start asking ourselves the most important question: What can be done to survive and stop the violence during the attack … when escape is impossible and the shooter is on location killing people?

What You Must Do

• Think like a survivor
• Manage the stress
• Follow through with an effective plan of action
• Rapidly assess the threat
• Locate exits
• Use cover
• Evacuate safely when possible
• Barricade in an enclosed space and deny access to the shooter



Behind the Evil
VULNERABLE TARGETS
Active shooters and terrorists always attack those they believe are vulnerable.

THE PLANNING
Their attacks are planned meticulously and over a long period of time. They also exploit weaknesses in security systems.

THE ATTACK
This is always done with surprise.

THEIR GOALS
Inflict the largest number of casualties as quickly as possible.

THE FIRST 10 MINUTES
Most casualties in these incidents occur during the first 10 minutes.

Baker's Dozen 13 Quality Handguns for Less than $500

By Dr. Martin D. Topper

The economy is about as lackluster as it gets. Unless, that is, you’re talking about the manufacture and sale of handguns, which is one of the few growth sectors.

A recent article by Martha C. White referred to a Gallup Poll that indicated household ownership of firearms had risen from 41% to 47%. White further reported that the fastest selling items were small, inexpensive handguns.  However it's not just men who are buying guns; the number of women purchasing guns rose 9% in the last year.

If gun buying patterns in my neck of the woods are like the rest of the country, many of those guns purchased by women and men were handguns for personal defense.

Given the current interest in inexpensive handguns, I searched the web for new handguns that could be purchased for less than $500 and went to the Florida Gun Exchange to look at a number of reasonably-priced used guns.  The search turned up many new and used guns priced less than $500, and it was easy to find a representative sample of these pistols and revolvers for this article.

Each gun was inspected for defects in workmanship or signs of excessive wear. All of the handguns described below were well-fitted and functioned smoothly. Some of the used guns had holster wear, but they were otherwise in very good to excellent condition.

New Guns

The new guns examined were regular production models. None of these revolvers and pistols had been modified in any way, and no attempt was made to select the best example of any particular model. These are the same guns that anyone who passes a background check can buy from a well-stocked gun shop.

1 Beretta Tomcat .32 ACP

Beretta's Tomcat is a popular small Double Action (DA) semi-automatic.  It's a bit big for a pocket .32, but it is comfortable to hold and will conceal in either a coat pocket or an inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster.

There are a number of hollowpoint defense loads made for this caliber, including a Winchester Silvertip, Federal Hydra-Shok, COR-BON DPX, a Speer Gold Dot and a Hornady XTP. Winchester's factory ballistics have a 60 gr. Silvertip hollow point bullet leaving the muzzle at about 970 fps, which produces about 125 ft. pds. of muzzle energy.

The .32 ACP is clearly not a high-powered cartridge, but actual street results published by Evan Marshall and Edwin Sanow indicate that it expands to a little more than .40 caliber and penetrates a bit more than 9 inches in actual shootings.

The Tomcat examined for this article was well made. It's double-action trigger pull was smooth and the sear broke cleanly. One nice feature of the Tom Cat is its tip-up barrel. This pistol's user doesn't have to cycle the slide to load or unload it. Just release the barrel latch and either insert or remove the cartridge. For those who want carry gun that is easy to use and has limited blast and recoil, the Tomcat is a good option.

SIDEBAR

Specifications

Beretta Tomcat
Action:         Blow back operated semi-automatic pistol
Caliber:         .32 ACP
Frame:        Aluminum alloy
Capacity:        8 rounds with loaded chamber
Barrel Length:     2.4 inches
Trigger:        DA
Overall Length:  4.9 inches
Weight:        14 oz. unloaded
Sights:        Fixed
Finish:        Blue
MSRP:        $435

Out of the ashes of the AR-15, Colt’s MT6700 target match rifle is born

Story and photos by John N. Raguso

Although Eugene Stoner and his design team invented it as a member of aircraft manufacturer Fairchild-Republic’s Armalite division back in the early 1960s, the AR-15’s patent was eventually sold to Colt. This proven defense manufacturer then used its marketing savvy, mass-production manufacturing techniques and military connections to sell the concept of a lightweight, direct-gas-operating system rifle to USAF General Curtiss Lemay as a replacement for the USAF’s aging M1 Carbines. The rest, as they say, is history.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the AR-15 (originally launched in 1963) and its numerous offspring in both military and civilian circles, the Colt MT6700 takes a giant step back into this past and offers a design that keeps things simple. In this review, we’ll take a closer look at this entry-level target match rifle and its direct-gas-impingement operating system in its most basic format, with a 20-inch barrel and /sans/ many of the bells and whistles of modern-era AR-15/M16 weapons and clones.

AR-15 EVOLUTION

The familiar “Rampant Colt” pony and Colt’s Manufacturing logo grace the port side of the receiver of the MT6700. However, the prestigious AR-15 tag has long been removed from this elementary target rifle’s magazine well housing due to various historical and current-day remnants of our country’s controversial AWB (assault weapons ban) legislation—the law of the land from 1994 through its eventual sunset in 2004. Various forms of that national law, including some subsequent and current state legislation, prohibited and/or still ban the sale or importation of many types of weapons, among them anything with the label, “AR-15” on it.

Fortunately, my favorite old Colt AR-15 A2 Sporter (SP2) was grandfathered under the original AWB law and is totally legal, since it was manufactured prior to 1994. Ditto for my Vietnam-era 20- and 30-round magazines that were made in the early 1970s and ’80s.

Even though the national AWB is thankfully gone (for now), and given the variety of state (such as my home state of New York) and municipality (New York City and others) legislation that is still in effect as you read this, Colt’s Manufacturing Company decided to evolve the nomenclature of its AR-15. The company morphed it into the Match Target (and SP Sporter) series of rifles to avoid any political legislation against their sale or distribution.

The MT6700 is sold with none of the offending “evil components,” such as a bayonet lug, flash suppressor or collapsible stock. Both the former and most of the current AWB laws allow the use of only two of the original five evil features—specifically a removable magazine and a pistol grip lower receiver, both of which can still be found on the 2012 edition of the MT6700.

The Colt MT6700 ships with a pair of nine-round mags that are good to go in all 50 states of the union, but it also accepts a variety of pre-ban and current-manufacture 15- (for New Jersey), 20- and 30-round aluminum and polymer magazines designed for the AR-15, M4 and M16 family of weapons.


The Colt MT6700 is an A3 flattop s-style target rifle that ships with a removable carry handle with ½ MOA rear sights, strap, cleaning kit, operations manual and a pair of nine-round magazines.

Take All The Anti-Gun Reporting With A Grain Of Salt

The Romans had a term for warning buyers about possible defects in property they purchased that might render it useless or unfit for the use for which it was intended. /Caveat emptor/ means “Let the buyer beware.” In other words, there was no liability on the part of the seller unless he/she concealed the defects or made false representations about the product being sold.

Of course, under today’s laws, buyers have many safeguards to protect them from defects or dishonesty—but certainly not for all products, and not all of the safeguards are enforceable, so buyers must still beware.

Today, Americans should familiarize themselves with another Latin term: /Caveat lector/. It translates as, “Let the reader beware,” and is similar in many ways to /Caveat emptor/. Rather than accept as fact everything they read or hear in the news, readers/listeners need to sort things out for themselves to determine what’s factual and what’s agenda driven.

This holds especially true in terms of Gun ownership, which is constantly under attack by the media, as well as by those who hold public office who believe the Constitution is “a living, breathing document,” whose text is meant to be flexible. Often, the handiwork of armed lunatics is used by the media and lawmakers to make us law-abiding gun owners look like we’re all a bunch of fanatics who live in the past.

During the two short years I’ve been editor of /Gun World/, Supreme Court Justice Breyer, who dissented from the majority in the landmark cases District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) told Chris Wallace in a televised Fox News interview that the role of the court is to interpret the Constitution flexibly, in light of ever-changing consequences. We’ve also seen the ATF push for new regulations on gun dealers near the Mexican border—ironically, at the same time Fast and Furious was still in full swing.

In that same period, the tragic Tucson shooting led to an anti-gun outcry on the parts of both the media and members of Congress; the latter used it as an excuse to propose stricter gun-control laws, and the former crafted stories to influence public opinion in favor of these stricter regulations.

THE QUARTER-BORE QUARTET

Bigger isn’t always better. From classics to modern, these four .25-caliber cartridges get the job done on big game

In this day and age of the “new cartridge of the month” mentality we live in, it can be a good mental exercise to inject a little sanity into the “bigger is better” madness. It does seem that unless you have one of the latest and greatest designer cartridges and shoot game from several hundred yards, you must be living in the Stone Age.

Rifles

However, long before these slick, new, wonder calibers came out and hunters felt the need to take game at really long range, there were calibers that worked extremely well. These calibers have been performing the task of knocking down big game with authority for longer than the portable wind-meter/computer generation of hunters has been alive.

One group of cartridges that really fits the bill is the .25-caliber. From the classic .250 Savage and .257 Roberts to the more-modern .25-06 Remington and .257 Weatherby, the quarter-bore quartet of cartridges has enjoyed a long and healthy track record of field success among journeymen hunters.

While there is a big ballistic disparity between the .250 Savage and the .257 Weatherby, the little .250 still has a place at the table. Regarding the .257 Roberts and .25-06: Their credibility has been well established.

In my opinion, the best way to assess the merits of each of the four .25-caliber cartridges is to discuss them individually, from oldest to newest.

THE NEAR-CENTURY-OLD .250 SAVAGE

The .250 Savage is coming up on the century mark in 2015. Although this cartridge is almost 100 years old and has lost ground to newer and more powerful cartridges, it is not finished yet. Loaded ammunition may be hard to find at the local CO-OP, and brass is on a “seasonal-run” basis, but the .250 Savage is still hanging around.

The original .250 Savage load, which fired an 87-grain bullet at a velocity of 3,000 fps, was pretty darned impressive in 1915—and it’s not that bad, even today. A 100-grain load was added later to satisfy deer hunters who felt the 87-grain load was just for varmints. Depending on the rifling twist rate, some of the oldest Model 99s were only accurate with the 87-grain load. Newer-built rifles had the faster twist and shot the heavier bullet well.

Even though most of the major rifle manufacturers chambered the .250 Savage, it was discontinued from production some time ago. Today, the main firearm seen in .250 Savage is the Savage Model 99 lever-action, which is highly sought after. Cooper Rifles, in Montana, and the Savage Custom Shop still produce the .250 Savage.

I shared my own experience with the .250 Savage recently in the May issue of /Gun World/. The particular rifle in that article was a Savage Model 16, which was assembled in the Savage Custom Shop. It had a Minox Z5 2.5-10x scope mounted on it. That rifle shot and handled quite well.

Gun World - POINT OF AIM

Tackling the Challenges of Summertime Carry

Some like it hot, but I’m not one of them.

Every season introduces a whole new set of pluses and minuses, whether it is the end of a particular hunting season, the beginning of football season, Spring Break for those of us with kids in school, etc. When I was younger, I welcomed summer each year, because it meant vacation time, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s become, perhaps, my least favorite time of year due to the heat factor. At the same time, I must admit, some of my favorite activities can only be enjoyed during the summer. So, we take the good with the bad.

Summertime also poses challenges to those of us who carry concealed. We must dress in lighter clothes, for starters, and that can place limitations, not only on what gun we carry, but also where we carry it and what we wear. With that in mind, we devoted a considerable amount of editorial coverage to the subject of summer concealed carry in this issue.

Two of the gun tests featured in this issue are superb for summertime carry. Kimber’s new Ultra Crimson Carry II is a compact 1911 with some serious stopping power. It holds seven rounds of .45 ACP in the magazine and features rosewood Crimson Trace Lasergrips. Field Editor Dave Workman reviews this gun (see page 56), which happens to be the same gun we recently awarded in our sweepstakes gun giveaway.

Another gun we tested for this issue is Ruger’s LCP, which was first introduced in late 2011. But the feedback I received from Field Editor Dr. Martin Topper, who lives in Daytona Beach, Florida (where it’s summertime year round), was that the LC9 is not only light and compact, but it is also virtually absent of any edges that would allow it to print—even under very light clothing. It also packs eight rounds of 9mm standard-pressure or +P ammunition. These factors combine to make the LC9 an excellent choice for deep concealment in summer, which is why I decided to run Topper’s test in this issue. Check it out on page 82.

Field Editor Jerry Ahern, who pens the “Concealed Carry” department (page 26) devotes his column this month to concealed carry in the summer months. Ahern addresses gun models and the materials from which they are constructed, along with cover clothing, weight and size considerations, holsters, and dos and don’ts of summer carry. It’s a great article.

Summer does present some challenges for concealed carry, which is why we made it a central theme in this issue. Hopefully, the aforementioned articles will nullify those challenges.

PULL QUOTE:

“ … we devoted a considerable amount of editorial coverage to the subject of summer carry in this issue.”

Mossberg’s 590A1 Special Purpose Is Street-Certified, Trail-Approved and Home Defense-Ready

Mossberg’s 590A1

Anytime I see the word, “special,” in a product description nowadays, I pretty much ignore it instantly. That word has been so overworked by advertising types that it’s about as overdone today as “colossal extravaganza” was by P. T. Barnum more than 100 years ago.

Yet, “special” still does mean something, on occasion. You just have to weed out those occasions from all the rest of the clutter. For the subject at hand, it is an apt descriptor, however, and it’s entirely understandable why Mossberg includes it in its Model 590A1 Special Purpose line.

The Mossberg website shows no fewer than 17 different variations of the 590A1 Special Purpose, covering 18.5- to 20-inch barrels, various sight options that include brass bead, three-dot and fully adjustable ghost-ring sights, standard black synthetics stocks, black wood stocks, Speedfeed stocks, adjustable sliders with Pistol grips, Parkerized and Marinecoat finishes, accessory rails, bayonet lugs, and ventilated and solid rubber recoil pads.

Based on the long-running Mossberg 500 pump action and first cousins to the shotguns fielded by the U.S. Marine Corps for several years, the A1 version treads well beyond the standard “civilian” Model 500 “riotgun” used by police for many years. Those were essentially just Hunting Guns with shorter barrels and different stock finishes, while the A1s are designed for hard use by some seriously hard users. If you’re a Mossberg fan and need a heavy-duty working pumpgun for social applications, you should be able to find a model to fit somewhere in that Special Purpose lineup. If you can’t, you’re just not trying.

Having partnered with a pump in a cop car, and after buckling one into an ATV scabbard more than a few times, I have my own preferences and ideas of what I want in a defensive shotgun. Others may vary (the reason behind so many options), but a quick scan turned up a model on Mossberg’s site that fit my shopping list of features, and then it was just a matter of waiting for it to arrive.

I’ll admit up front that while I’ve known others who have had good results with Mossbergs, I’m heavily invested in the “other” brand, and I’d never personally tried one myself. The test sample was an Item # 51663, Special Purpose 9 Shot 590A1. When it arrived, I was quite impressed. Take a look.