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.

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.