Many of us at TFB do not just merely write about firearms. We work at retail gun stores, museums, are attorneys, gunsmiths, historical researchers and perform R&D work for firearm manufacturers. We take pride in fully immersing ourselves into the #pewpewlife as Colion Noir would say. We will not state we are premier experts in any given category, but we also believe we are very well versed in all facets of firearms. As a result, we sometimes get asked, “can you identify my guns?” We all enjoy a challenge, so we resoundingly say, “Yes!”

Umarex has released an image of an upcoming new product that will be introduced during the IWA 2018 arms exhibition held in Nuremberg, Germany. This is a .50 caliber CO2 revolver which Umarex markets as a home defense gun. It is called HRD 50.

In a follow-up to an earlier video in which he compared reloading the last military gate-loading revolver with his Smith and Wesson, Mike returns by popular request to pit his Smith against a British break-open revolver. Is either of them significantly faster to reload?

Often completely overshadowed by the larger SHOT Show, the Antique Gun Show is strategically held during the weekend after SHOT Show (although this year it was held the weekend before). Although possibly not the best antique show in the United States, it certainly ranks highly up there with the quality of firearms brought into it. The majority of everything sold within this show is from the 1800s and early 1900s, with even a few older firearms as well. And unlike SHOT Show which is strictly regulated to media and industry folks, the Antique Arms Show is open to the general public for a small admission fee at the door. Apparently, for the first time since attending SHOT, TFB was able to pay a visit and bring to light a number of the more interesting pieces on display. Although not comprehensive of everything that was on display, this post will highlight some of the odder and more fascinating tables and vendors.

Kydex, or Boltaron, holsters are all the rage these days. But how are they actually made? With what tools and techniques do these excellent (or sometimes poor) IWB or OWB setups come from? In this episode we look at a local Kydex holster maker and go through all the steps it takes to bring one to fruition. From cutting out the Boltaron sheet, sticking it in a heater, forming it around a handgun, and all the other smaller steps along the way.

Bond Arms has long been known for their derringer-style pistols. Though diminutive in size, they still pack a punch. That’s why the Bond Arms Bullpup 9 is such a break-from-the-norm for the company.

We often wish old firearms could speak, share their stories and tell us what they’ve seen. Well a Smith & Wesson revolver, recently acquired by Britain’s National Army Museum, has a hell of a story.

There is a lot of love for semi-auto pistols nowadays, but it is hard to beat the reliability, power and clean manufacturing of a revolver. In this TFB Review, we take a look at the stout Smith & Wesson Model 66 Combat Magnum® .357 Magnum with a 2 3/4″ barrel.

Nighthawk Customs and Korth have partnered to bring a new level of revolvers to North America. Just three days ago they posted up this one of a kind hand engraved revolver called The Korth Dragon. It started its life as a 4″ Mongoose.

For those of you who are out in the dating scene, I applaud you. In the midst of all that is the internet – Snapchat, Tinder, MySpace, etc – the casual-scene pitfalls would surely be too much for me to endure. Instead, TFB is reaching out to those willing to make a commitment with five quick Valentine’s Day gift ideas for that very special man or woman. For everyone else, your mother, father or best friend would gladly accept a nice present from the list below.

Boasting the tagline “designed to keep you beautifully concealed”, the ladies at Miss Concealed brought the heat this year at SHOT Show 2018 with their line of “Hidden Heat” concealed carry holsters.

Meet my new friend, Kristen. She’s the brains behind Packin’ Neat.

What do you do when you’re a hard working nurse practitioner mother and wife, your husband is in law enforcement? Imagine, you’ve got 6 kids, and just don’t have the time to find a holster that will work with the scrubs you have to wear every day or any other outfit? With no business background, Mike and Tessa Renaud created Lethal Lace to solve that issue!

Many women say that most of the EDC pocketbooks look outdated and are impractical. Gun Tote’N Mama’s founder Claudie Chisholm is changing the EDC accessory marketplace for women.

At the GAOS I came across Taylor’s & Company. Normally old timey black powder revolvers does not interest me until I saw something that caught my attention. I present their 1860 Army Snub Nose.

While this mythical knife-gun – the Arsenal RS-1 – has been to a few SHOT Shows in the past, this year represents the last of these hand-made, unusual pieces, as they are no longer being manufactured. Sure, they are pretty neat and unique but – are they worth $2,500? Thoughts in the comments below.

Colt has a very storied history of producing phenomenal single-action and double-action revolvers. To the dismay of many, over the years they slowly dwindled down that inventory to only the SIngle-Action Army leaving consumers reminiscing of the good ol’ days and wanting more. Well, Colt responded to those sentiments by bringing back the Cobra .38 Special. Now this year at SHOT Show 2018 they have announced a newer iteration of that revolver called the Night Cobra.

Ruger has a LOT of new firearms that they are introducing to consumers for 2018, but some of them tower in popularity above others. It was pretty easily recognizable by how long the lines were to shoot and test firearms at SHOT Show’s Industry Day at the Range. The number one firearm on that list is easily the PC9 Carbine that, like a phoenix, has risen again from the ashes.

The 2018 Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoors Show is upon us! Over the next week, the TFB Team consisting of over 16 writers, and 4 videographers will be working our hardest (and fastest) to try and bring to you, our readership, some of the broadest coverage of SHOT Show 2018 that we hope we can provide the internet. We’ll be shooting new firearms at lanes on Media Day at the Range, climbing all over booths on the show floor, and quizzing sales representatives left and right about the latest and greatest for 2018. Days will be long, shoes will get worn through, gratuitous amounts of photos and videos will be taken.

Browsing through the CIP cartridge standards while doing a research, I noticed several cartridges named PICRA. The name was unknown to me and apparently, it is unknown to many others too. So I thought why don’t I do a little research to find out who has designed these cartridges? It was a matter of simple web search to find that company’s website. It turns out, that there is more than a couple of cartridges developed by them. In this article, we’ll learn about the PICRA company and take a brief look at their cartridges.

Getting ready to crack their 100 million views milestone, TFBTV has come a long way in just under three years. The channel has added new hosts, debuted exclusive review guns, educated us with historical and scientific episodes, and entertained us with fan-supplied mailbag “gifts”, Jurassic pumpkins, and youth swimwear.

Charter Arms is rolling out several new revolvers for the new year. One is an addition to the Pathfinder line, while the second is a new model in the Undercover Lite family.

What’s the old saying? ‘A handgun’s only use is to fight your way back to your rifle.’ Obviously an over simplification – today’s modern handguns are perfectly capable of handling the majority of common defensive situations. Still, having a proper long gun available is always a good idea.

Mike (aka “Bloke on the Range”) takes his 7.5mm Swiss M82/29 revolver, the last military “Abadie”-type gateloading revolver, to the range and pits it against a 1940’s Smith and Wesson M&P in .38 S&W to see just how much worse gateloading is than a swing out cylinder. Spoiler – even with the Abadie system, where pulling the trigger turns the cylinder, it sucks. The question is how much!

Product Release

Continuing our series of articles telling about the most expensive firearms sold in the major US auction houses, today we’ll take a look at the ten most expensive firearms sold in December 2017 Rock Island Premiere Auction. This time there are also two world records set.

The Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum) in Paris houses an excellent display of European medieval small arms, showing a wide array of early firearms design. Apart from this collection, the museum is itself a fascinating portrayal of the French Armed Forces, from the times of antiquity to the current. While I was there, they had an entire hall devoted to the modern French soldier in the 21st Century and French soldiers throughout the ages. The museum itself is a bit of history, being over a century years old with an origin in 1905 when the Musée d’Artillerie (founded after the French Revolution) was combined with the Musée Historique de l’Armée. It is housed in a massive nineteenth-century complex walking distance from the Eiffel Tower that is more akin to a palace than a museum. There are two entrances, a sort of frontal one with a grand walkway and a rear one that lets you into the Hôtel des Invalides, or the Chapel of Veterans. Fun fact, Napoleon’s tomb is located in there if you want to see that before the beginning of the visit.

When it comes to revolvers, no company is going to re-invent the wheel (or the wheelgun), but they can always be refined. That is exactly what Ruger has done with two of their Redhawks. In both a 4.2″ and 5.5″ barrel configuration they have added in sleeve and shroud barrels to help improve the accuracy.

Bare gel:

Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced three new revolvers in its GP100 line of revolvers. Like the base GP100, these three guns are chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge. Unlike any of the other guns in this line, all three of these wheelies have a cylinder that holds seven cartridges.