Ballistic

Before turning the calendar page to 2024, let’s toast the 100-plus firearm, ammo, optic and accessory makers featured in our sixth annual Ballistic’s Best Guns Of The Year Awards issue. If you’re a BB newbie, please allow us to set the stage for what’s ahead. At the end of each publishing year, our crack editorial staff and content creators build the only magazine of its kind—one where some 100-plus guns get wrung out on the range, then evaluated and ranked using a multi-point criteria scoring system. In the end, winners of the following 10 categories are awarded the coveted Ballistic’s Best trophy: Full-size handguns, Compact handguns, 1911s (this year we have two price-point divisions), Revolvers (Old West and Modern divisions), Pistol Caliber Carbines, Lever Actions, Shotguns (pump and semi-auto divisions),…

Each year has its holidays and landmark occasions that divide the time and make things a little more interesting and special for a few days. In our case, one of those times begins around the middle of July each year and lasts a good bit longer than a few days. It’s when I start prepping for our annual Ballistic’s Best edition by sending out requests to companies for the hottest pistols of the year while other writers start their own process for the other categories. In this case, during a flurry of emails and phone calls, we were able to procure nine of the most popular full-size pistols of the past year for the selected evaluators to test, evaluate and then rank them according to specific criteria. On top of…

Having been an avid gun enthusiast, shooter and collector for well over 35 years and a gun writer for more than 10 years, I’ve tried just about everything out there. I like a good defensive shotgun and appreciate a solid semi-auto rifle like my Daniel Defense DDM4 V7. However, I truly love pistols, particularly compact pistols. They don’t have the power of a shotgun or rifle, but to me, there’s more of a personal connection with a quality pistol. Maybe that’s because I carry or have at least one pistol with me 24/7, more than any other type of firearm that I own. Some of my appreciation is because a pistol (or even a revolver) is an easily accessible tool for most folks, and it allows them to be prepared…

In a world awash with polymer-framed, striker-fired guns is it possible that the 1911 is still relevant? You’d think that after our military retired ol’ slabsides in favor of the 9mm Beretta M9 in 1985 it would slip quietly into retirement, right? And maybe it would have had it not been for one relentless advocate of using this pistol for defense. Starting with just 250 acres and a dream in 1976, retired Marine Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper established the American Pistol Institute, which later became known simply as Gunsite. With a mission of training responsibly armed citizens, Cooper staffed his instructor cadre with men who “had seen the elephant,” his euphemism for someone who had survived a lethal encounter, and most of the rough-and-tumble group possessed military and/or law enforcement…

IN 2023, THE REVOLVER IS NOT ONLY ALIVE AND WELL, it is flourishing! This year’s Ballistic’s Best wheelgun shootout features the most we have ever evaluated—a total of nine. It is also the most diverse lineup divided into two categories, Modern and Old West. For the Modern category, we evaluated the new 4.25-inch Colt Anaconda, the Kimber K6xs, the Rossi RP63, the SAR Magnum SR and Taurus’ 605 T.O.R.O. The Old West contenders are EMF’s Great Western Liberty, Henry’s Big Boy, Taylor & Company’s 1875 Outlaw and Uberti’s 1873 Cattleman. What made thesee single-action revolvers unique is they were all chambered in 9mm. THE EVALUATORS The evaluations were conducted in the middle of a brutally hot Georgia summer. A special thanks goes out to my four friends for their support…

By design and general nature, rifles are easy to run. We have multiple points of contact on the gun, a longer sight radius or optics, and the additional weight soaks up recoil. The only thing that makes them more enjoyable is when we chamber them in a pistol caliber. The advent and growth in the PCC market has been one of the most enjoyable and popular developments in the firearms world in a long time. Running essentially an AR-style platform or another rifle platform in 9mm, for example, is simply a blast. There is minimal recoil, and the guns are fast and accurate. Because of this growing sector of our beloved gun world, we thought it appropriate to look at a few new PCCs and run them head-to-head. Our goal…