Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, certain pistoleros stand out as either famous or infamous wielders of the wheelgun, be they exhibition shooters, or in this case, a serious practitioner of fighting pistolcraft.  Periodically on Wheelgun Wednesday, we will take a quick look at such personalities.  This week, let’s find out a little bit more about NYPD’s Jim Cirillo.

Over the last few months, I have started going on hikes daily typically with a larger hiking pack. Hiking park trails is a great alternative exercise to running while making your body work harder. Like many others, I gained a few pounds in the days of Covid lockdowns, so this summer I really put forth an effort to shed the extra weight and get in better shape. While carrying with a large pack, it can be difficult to carry a handgun comfortably, especially if you start to get tired and fatigued. Depending on where you live and where you’re hiking, there are a few different options for carrying concealed while hiking so let’s take a deeper dive into it.

This week on  Wheelgun Wednesday I am delving into a good old Colt. It feels odd to me to think that this will be my second Colt-related Wheelgun Wednesday and I only own one Colt. The one I have and did an article on is the Colt Police Positive Special. This time around I had the chance to work with my friend’s Colt Single Action Frontier Scout 22LR revolver. Let’s dive right into it!

Welcome back to another installment of TFB’s  Wheelgun Wednesday. Today we’ll take a look at a legendary custom Colt Single Action Army target revolver – Elmer Keith’s No. 5. Although Elmer Keith owned a number of revolvers, this particular one is the most well-known Keith wheelgun and is considered by many the best custom SAA to exist. This revolver was featured in Guns & Ammo and The American Rifleman articles as well as in the “Sixguns” book written by Keith. Currently, this wheelgun is consigned to Rock Island Auction Company and will be sold during their  September 2021 Premier Firearms Auction.

The Wild West era holds a special place in the hearts of many firearms enthusiasts. Plenty of shooters today grew up with figures of cowboys, sheriffs, and outlaws on horseback with lever-action rifles and classic revolvers. What would American firearms history be without the image of two spur-wearing duelists in a dusty street at high noon, hands hovering nervously over the Colt Peacemakers on their hips? Particularly given Hollywood’s canonization of frontier gunslingers, with iconic portrayals by actors like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Robert Duvall, guns of the mid-late 1800s can be exceedingly nostalgic.

Smith & Wesson has introduced a new concealed carry K-Frame revolver – the Performance Center Model 19 Carry Comp. Based on the classic design of the Model 19, the Model 19 Carry Comp sports a whole new set of features and a shortened and ported 2.5″ barrel to make this classic more suitable for concealed carry duty.

Over the last week, I have been down in Myrtle Beach visiting friends and seeing the various sights there are down in the southeast part of the country. Every time I head down to the boardwalk or any other touristy place around the area, I started thinking about the pros and cons of carrying when there’s a ton of people around. For new carriers, carrying in a crowded area can be extremely stressful just on the fact there are so many eyes that potentially could see your firearm. This is typically a fairly common fear among new conceal carriers, but crowds aren’t always your enemy. Let’s take a deeper look at carrying in crowded areas.

Last week on Wheelgun Wednesday, we got some of Rusty’s insights, range time, and critiques of the new Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum. As a whole, he was very impressed with this newly reintroduced wheelgun and what Colt has been able to do by breathing new life into it. With this seemingly tremendous success of the Anaconda: it almost begs the question: where do they go from here?

Welcome to the second edition of the Police Guns Of The World series, where we’ll take stock of what law enforcement agencies are issuing to their officers. Just as a recap, I set some parameters to narrow the field to the top federal, national, or state agencies of each country, which should still give us roughly 193 results. I’m also narrowing the focus at present to police-issued pistols, but I’ve already seen some pretty unusual rifles and submachine guns that we’ll explore at a later time.

Welcome to the first installment of the Police Guns Of The World series, in which we’ll explore the current state of police firearms around the globe. In the first and second editions, we’ll be taking a look at what’s currently riding in federal law enforcement holsters of South America. Seeing as how we’re almost a quarter of the way through the 21st Century, I figured now is a good time to update the history books. Most firearms enthusiasts are familiar with the age of revolvers, the “transition” years from revolvers to semi-automatics, and perhaps even what their local agency carries. However, it’s rare to find even a glimpse of what the rest of the world of law enforcement carries at present, in one place.

Today on Wheelgun Wednesday, you’ll be getting TFB’s impressions of the new, re-introduced Colt Anaconda from not one but two of our writers.  Read on, and you’ll see what Rusty S. and Adam S. have to say about the new .44 Magnum main squeeze from Colt.

Photo Of The Day and we have some great lifestyle pictures from Smith & Wesson and their Model 686 in .357 Magnum (also compatible with .38 Special cartridges). This revolver was introduced in 1981. What do you think about it and which model would you prefer?

While I personally look at Cimarron’s firearms more as a novelty or a collector’s item, I know plenty of people who actively seek out replica “Old West” firearms for the pure joy of having and shooting them. Cimmaron has recently released a special edition revolver in honor of one of the firearms industry’s oldest and most honored magazines, the “American Handgunner.” The bi-monthly print magazine is a publication that has been in production since 1976 and covers topics from competition shooting to reloading and tactical knives. In honor of the 45 year anniversary of the magazine, Cimarron has released their master engraved Frontier .45LC revolver that comes complete with a leather tooled holster.

Every week, there are a few individuals who reach out to talk about certain aspects of carrying a concealed firearm. Whether it’s a question regarding holsters, guns or accessories, I get asked a fair bit about my personal carry options. So since you guys have asked repeatedly, I have decided to help out and break down three of my favorite carry options. It’s perfectly acceptable to disagree with me and I expect a few of you to completely disagree with everything I say, which is good for conversation. Let’s take a deeper dive into the top 3 carry options I use on a daily basis.

This week on Wheelgun Wednesday I am bringing the Hugo Hensel back for all you revolver lovers and appreciators. It has been a while since I was at the helm of a good old wheel gun article and I assure you I have been super excited and patient to share some more information I found on the H. Hensel revolver I previously posted about. Last time I talked about how I acquired the revolver, my research at the time, the specifications, and my cartridge speculation. Some new exciting information has popped up so let’s dive down the rabbit hole.

Welcome to TFB’s Wheelgun Wednesday, where we explore all sorts of revolvery goodness. This week we’ll take a look at the Lend-Lease Victory model from Smith & Wesson that I acquired from The Mosin Crate. The batch he was able to source came from Israel, which included models issued to the New Zealanders, however, I didn’t pony up the extra money for one so stamped. Let’s take a look at how my new-to-me Lend-Lease S&W Victory revolver fared through World War II and beyond, and take a peek at the oft-forgotten .38S&W cartridge.

Pietta is an Italian replica firearm manufacturer that specializes in historic long arms, single-action revolvers, and black powder revolvers. Davidson’s has partnered up with Pietta to create three new Pietta Exclusives for their customers. The trio will include two new revolvers and one double-barrel side-by-side 12 gauge shotgun. All three of these new exclusive items are in inventory now and shipping to dealers.

There’s no question that the small frame .357 Magnum revolver is an EDC legend. Dependable, compact, and powerful, the snubnose revolver is still a popular choice for concealed carry over a century after the snubby was introduced. But should it be as popular as it is, still? Within the past decade, ultra compact, dependable, high capacity semi-automatic handguns like the SIG SAUER P365, Glock 43X, and Smith & Wesson Shield Plus have skyrocketed in popularity for good reason, but at the same time, advances in metallurgy and ammo technology have also improved the revolver at the same pace, with these pocket rockets pushing out more power in smaller, lighter packages. Today, James Reeves tests out the smallest, lightest .357 Magnum ever made, the Smith & Wesson 340PD, and fires it under stress at 20 feet, 30 feet, and 50 feet to see if a gun this small with this much horsepower is still a good idea. Check out the results.

When it comes to the long lineage of snake guns, we all knew there was one at the top we were waiting for. Well folks, the king in the Colt Anaconda is finally here! It was revealed back in March this year that Colt would be bringing back the Anaconda notably chambered in .44 Magnum and the world of wheelguns has been set on fire ever since.

You might have seen those old Colt revolver adverts from the late 1800s and early 1900s with their quirky claims and beautifully drawn illustrations. What you might not realize is that Colt, and many other firearms manufacturers of the time, provided the templates and even the woodcuts needed to print them, for free.

With more and more states allowing constitutional carry, I am started to become bombarded with questions about what they should do when it comes to different types of carrying. Some ask if constitutional carry is the way to go while others ask if having a permit is better in the long run. There are a number of things to consider when debating on going with constitutional carry or applying for a permit and paying the government to carry a concealed firearm. Both have their own specific advantages when looking at each independently. Let’s dive deeper into the pros and cons of constitutional carry.

If you love to plink with rimfire revolvers there is a delicate line you must walk of affordability and quality. Without throwing any names under the bus, there are a few economy revolvers on the market I would stay away from because they are too cheap. One of the best ones dollar-for-dollar though is the Ruger Wrangler. We have extensively covered the Ruger Wrangler on TFB because of its popularity since its inception and also because of the many permutations of this wheelgun. One nostalgic looking one I lauded not long ago was a TALO Exclusive with hardwood grips and a cobalt Cerakote. That very version we got our hands on and will be taking a look at today!

For those of us who love a good wheelgun, especially the old ones (I am talking about the really old dogs out there around 100 years old) one element about those revolvers you likely wish was better or more 21st century are the triggers. Most have horrendously heavy double-action trigger pulls, and although the travel is shorter in single-action, even the single-action pull is heavy. This shouldn’t be surprising considering the leaps and bounds in technology, revolver design, and the firearm market’s vigor for improved triggers that we have today that did not exist back then. If you happen to own an M1895 Nagant (3 TFB Staff Writers now own one – we’re bringing them back and making them cool again), there is an incredibly easy hack or trick you can do to improve the trigger. The M1895 Nagant trigger job we are going to show you today was suggested to me by Mike Stannard, Manufacturing and Export Manager of Tornado Technologies, after I received my revolver back from being threaded for a silencer.

Summer is rapidly approaching and every year I will oftentimes get bombarded with questions when it comes to carrying in warm weather. Carrying a firearm in hotter weather can have its own challenges just based on the spike in temperature during the summer months. Whether it’s concealing your firearm under just a simple shirt or dealing with chaffing or weight, having a comfortable carry every day can sometimes prove to be challenging. A common issue with summer carry for some concealed carriers is the inability to prioritize their most important carry items. Let’s dive into the basics of carrying when it comes to summer carry.

The Standard Manufacturing S333 Thunderstruck and the Cobray Pocket Pal are interesting modern iterations of double-barreled (and, in the case of the Pocket Pal, double cylindered!) revolvers.  That being said, like many concepts in the world of cartridge firearms, the concept has been implemented before. In the case of the double-barreled revolver, both over/under and side by side double-barreled revolvers existed and had modest commercial success via French and Belgian manufacturers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Let’s take a look at these neat double-barreled blasters, shall we?

Welcome to TFB’s Wheelgun Wednesday, where we look at the vast world of wheelgunnery. This week we’ll take a look at the S&W Model 610, 10mm revolver I had on loan from Smith & Wesson. The large, “N” framed S&W model 610 utilizes moon clips to extract the six rimless casings once they’ve been fired. I was glad for the opportunity to give the Model 610 a whirl after years of drooling over them. Another plus for this review is that the S&W 610 is able to fire the .40 S&W cartridge, of which I had a backup supply as well as the 10mm Auto I was able to acquire during the great ammo shortage of 2020 & 2021.

For those of you who carry a six-shooter or any other J-Frame style revolver for your daily carry, Fury Carry Solutions have just added compatibility options for their Custom Appendix Holster (left in the photo above). The Fury Carry Solutions Custom Appendix Holster has many options for both left and right-handed shooters, belt mounting options, and color styles including a limited edition Hawaiian Print style.

Nighthawk Custom has introduced a limited edition model of Korth revolvers dubbed Vintage. With the mesmerizing color case hardened finish of the frames and barrels, carved smooth walnut grips and high polished cylinders, Korth Vintage revolvers are just incredibly beautiful handguns. These revolvers will definitely be a great addition to any high-end wheelgun collection.

Sometimes, combining two types of operation works out well.  The Benelli M3, for instance, is both a pump-action and semiautomatic shotgun.  The IWI Tavor TS12 is both a revolver and a semiautomatic shotgun as well.  In 1869, an enterprising gunsmith, J. Thomas, was working for the Birmingham, England firm of BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Company, LTD).  The British small arms industry was experiencing at the time a wave of different ideas and implementations of how to swiftly unload and reload revolvers, most prevalently using the “tip up” system.

The MR73 is coming back. Yes, you read that right. The legendary Manurhin MR73 revolver is being imported again into the United States, and this time it’s through the oldest gun manufacturer in the world, Beretta. James Reeves gets his hands on this $3,300 masterwork of a combat revolver built for the elite French GIGN counterterrorist force in today’s episode of TFB TV. As usual, James walks you through the specs, gives you the details and gives you his honest opinion about the Manurhin MR73. Yes, this gun is pricey, but its accuracy, durability, and construction may be without parallel. Check out today’s video and let us know if you agree. The following is from Beretta’s press release about this gun: