Welcome once again night vision aficionados. Today we take a look at an oldie but goodie, the AN/PVS-5. The PVS-5 was the US Army’s first binocular night vision goggle. They were actually used for the USAF in the 70s. The Friday Night Lights series is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Magnified optics are always helpful for any firearm enthusiast. Whether it is for hunting or target shooting, being able to see further than our Mk1 Eyeballs is helpful. While I have used binoculars in the past, I do not own a pair. I have gotten by with spotting scopes or using my scopes to glass down range. So the Maven B.6 12×50 were a pleasant surprise. It is certainly a phenomenal pair of binoculars so let’s dive in and see what makes it so good.

Blackout Defense has their roots in aerospace and defense manufacturing. Prior to entering the small arms space, the machines in this Arizona-based shop produced parts for customers like Boeing and Raytheon, on projects like Apache helicopters and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. While they still maintain some of these business lines, today Blackout’s focus has turned toward the firearms industry. Their 20,000 square foot factory churns out AR-15 receivers, barrels, BCGs, and more, with an eye toward quality and strict tolerances. I’ve spent the last few months getting to know one of these AR components: the Zero Trigger.

The MP5 is arguably the best 9mm SMG ever made. It has been cloned by many and yet fans and collectors always want that German roller delayed blowback perfection. While H&K has imported the SP5K and SP5, they have decided to bring to the US the HK SP5L, the modern-day HK94.

This Friday Night Lights we will continue the Dual Tube Spotlight mini-series where we take a look at binocular night vision goggles. This week we have the Elbit Systems of America F5032. It is also known as the SBNVG and PVS-31D. The Friday Night Lights series is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

The ability to see your paper target or your prey makes binoculars a really useful tool for shooters. The Maven Outdoor Equipment Company recently added two new offerings to their B Series lineup, the B1.2 binocular with 42mm objective lenses and the B.6 with 50mm lenses. I got the opportunity to review the new B1.2 binocs in 10x42mm, while TFB’s Nick C. grabbed the 12x50mm to review. Maven describes the B Series of optics as being their flagship line with upgraded parts and coatings, so let’s see how they held up to their specifications.

Ghost ring sights are something I’ve always been curious about but never actually had the chance to mess around with – that is until recently when AMERIGLO sent me a pair of Glock Ghost Ring Sights that were compatible with the Glock 17/19 platform. I picked these particular sights as I don’t see them quite often and I was honestly morbidly curious if they offered any significant advantages or disadvantages over traditional three-dot or notch and post sights. For reference, I picked a pair of AMERIGLO GL-325 Ghost Ring Sights and used them on a Glock 19 Gen 4 pistol.

Friday Night is here once again. Last week we talked about Weltool Weaponlights. So let’s go back and talk more about night vision. This time we will look at an accessory that is often overlooked. The Night Vision Magnifier is a great way to augment your night vision device’s capabilities. The Friday Night Lights series is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Kimber is well known for making 1911 pistols. It was only recently they started to make striker-fired pistols. They started with the Solo and then the Evo SP. However, the Evo SP is a single stack pistol and people love more capacity. Well, your desires have been met. The R7 Mako is the Kimber subcompact you have been wanting with a healthy amount of capacity.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This weekly series is all bout the rimfire firearm world! This week we’ve got a new kit that was added and most likely would have never been approved by Bill Ruger himself – a threaded barrel kit for a rimfire version of one of the most prolific carry guns ever to hit the market. The Ruger LCP II Lite Rack was introduced to everyone’s surprise back in December of 2019 along with the equally surprising Ruger-57 5.7x28mm pistol. Not only were both the pistols quite odd but their first offerings didn’t feature threaded barrels. After much feedback from customers, Ruger has finally released a threaded barrel kit for both the Ruger-57 and the Ruger LCP II Lite Rack. I was able to get a copy of the Lite Rack Threaded Barrel Kit and today we’ll see what it can do for those of you who might be considering suppressing your miniature rimfire pistol.

It’s rough being a lefty in the gun world. I mean, you get used to it, but still. Gas in your face, the controls of 90% of guns are on the wrong side, and don’t even get me started on the price of ambidextrous accessories. So when Ruger approached TFB and asked if anyone wanted to review a left-handed 10/22 from the Ruger custom shop, I jumped at the offer.

It is Friday Night and it is once again time to get our photon jam on. Today we take a look at Weltool weapon lights. Specifically their W35 series of weapon lights. They come in white LED, IR LED and LEP. As per usual, Friday Night Lights is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to carry SIG’s new P365X pistol and put a decent amount of rounds through it. SIG has been trying to make a number of variants of the P365 line which I wrote about earlier this year. This P365X is a newer variant of the lineup with a couple new features. Let’s take a deeper dive into SIG Sauer P365X and how it performs.

SIG SAUER first introduced their M400 series over a decade ago, with the initial version’s release in 2010. The M400 concept was meant to be SIG’s entry into the world of budget-friendly AR-15s. These guns differ from SIG’s pricier rifles like the MCX Virtus Patrol, which is a piston-driven platform, and fall more closely in line with the direct impingement operation that has become generally accepted as “standard” for ARs. Until recently, the series’ current models covered the basics: a regular 16″-barrelled rifle, an 11.5″ pistol, and an upscaled rifle variant that came with some factory upgrades, like an optic and flat trigger. There is also a large-frame cousin, the 716i Tread. This AR-10 shares most of its DNA with the above 5.56 models, but is chambered in 7.62 instead. Never a company to rest on its laurels, SIG is now expanding the M400 family with two new models announced in 2021: the Switchblade (to be covered soon) and the Predator, which I’ve spent the last few months getting to know.

We have seen some of Savior Equipment’s wares here on The Firearm Blog. Savior was gracious enough to send some of their latest storage solutions for us to review. One of them is definitely in their wheelhouse, it is their Specialist Covert case. Then there are their Mag Buddy magazine storage and organization mag pouches. Then there is their Pistol Rack for transporting and storing pistols.

Like it or not, loading magazines (or belts) is just one of the things that one has to do before serious trigger time with any repeater. Sometimes, I like to get it out of the way ahead of time (as in prior to a high-round count match or course). Other times, I must do it at the range, especially when using a platform that I don’t have many magazines for.  With some magazines, this can be just time-consuming.  With certain magazines, this can become a chore, especially in the last few rounds to be loaded.  Thankfully, there are quite a few gadgets out there that reduce one’s loading time and/or effort.

New this year from Henry USA is an updated version of their All-Weather lever action rifle, now featuring a side-gate loading option and an extended Picatinny rail with a fully adjustable peep sight. In this article we’ll take a closer look at the updated Henry All-Weather Picatinny Rail .45-70 Side Gate lever action rifle.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of  The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire world and its various firearms, ammunition, and trends. This week I am at the helm and filling in for your usual host Luke C. Thankfully, recently I had the opportunity to get to know and research an oldie but a goodie. Today we have a review of the Stoeger Luger .22 L.R. CAL. Automatic Pistol. Let’s dive right into the review!

FLUX Defense made a name for themselves with their brace for Glock pistols. Since then they came out with their MP17 aka FLUX Raider. It is the most anticipated P320 chassis and even though they have been making it for a while, the demand has not died down. They sell out in minutes. I managed to get one thanks to my friend Alex K. of Nocorium. He had a spare and sold it to me at his cost. So let’s see what makes the FLUX Raider so great.

So things have escalated quickly the last time I wrote about the Steiner PVS-21 monocular and mentioned two accessories for the PVS-21. The Steiner CEHUD and COTM add a whole other layer of capability that you do not have with traditional night vision systems. Friday Night Lights is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Everyone who carries has a different experience. However, one experience that we all share is the seemingly neverending search for the best belt and hoster. That perfect holster means nothing if you don’t have the perfect belt to hold it up. Belts have a surprising number of boxes they need to check. Before I started carrying, I thought all that mattered was that they held your pants up. Gun belts can be thick, heavy, stiff, tall, and can begin to droop regardless of which of those qualities it maintained. Fortunately, gun belt technology has been advancing at the same rate as holsters. We’ve seen a shift from leather to nylon, and now to some pretty cool polymer materials. Innovation doesn’t stop at materials. As you’re about to see, there is more than one way to close a belt. This is the Apogee Belt from Boxer Tactical.

Over the years, TFB has occasionally posted some tidbits about a pistol called the TARA TM-9, starting way back in 2013. Since then, we’ve gotten occasional updates on this interesting 9mm hailing from the nation of Montenegro in southeastern Europe. Montenegro is a small country, just east across the Adriatic sea from Italy. Montenegro’s bordering neighbors include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosova, and Albania. One of the Montenegrin industry’s leaders is TARA Aerospace AD. This modern manufacturing company serves as the parent company for the small arms division that produces the TM-9 pistol, among some other firearms including a polymer-receiver and piston-operated AR-type rifle. Now after several years of its earlier iterations seeing use abroad, the TM-9 is available in the US for the first time, as TFB recently reported.

With new models featuring added capacity, the Heckler & Koch VP9 series pistols continue to grow on the success of the original platform.  As the design continues to grow, HK has made 17-round retrofit kits for those with legacy 15-round magazines.  As a current HK VP9 enthusiast with more than a few legacy 15-round magazines, I wanted to see just how well these kits worked in my VP9 Tactical.

Hello fellow photon aficionados and welcome back to another Friday Night Lights. Today we take a look at another Insight product. This time we are looking at their pistol mounted MFAL (Multi-Function Aiming Laser), the AN/PEQ-14. Friday Night Lights is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

The Custom Dial System (CDS) from Leupold matches any CDS Leupold optic to your rifle. Taking into account your rifle’s ballistics and average environmental conditions, Leupold’s CDS turrets take care of the rest.  These turrets come marked for specific distances and allow the shooter to dial for a specific distance much faster.  To see just how well this system worked, Leupold sent over some CDS turrets for my 16″ .300 Blackout for me to test.

Glock pistols can quickly turn into projects once you start attempting to adapt them to fit your personal preferences. I’ve been carrying my Glock 48 for about 2 years now and over many range sessions and rounds downrange, I finally decided that I wanted to change up a few things to turn it into a more versatile pistol. While this may have been a misguided and fruitless attempt to prevent me from buying more guns, I went for it anyway and the guys over at Tyrant Designs sent me over some of their newest aftermarket items for use with the Glock 43, 43X, and 48. Among those Items were the new Tyrant Designs I.T.T.S. (Improved Tyrant Trigger System) Trigger as well as their new Glock Magwell for use with the Glock 43X and 48.

No matter if it is hunting, plinking, competition shooting, or just plain old fun, there is no doubt in my mind that .22LR is by far the most popular cartridge on the planet. The .22LR rimfire cartridges have been effectively used nearly everywhere on the planet for a variety of reasons and for many, the rimfire rifle is the centerpiece of the shooting community. Rimfire has more recently taken on a more prominent role in the firearms community both as a useful caliber as well as a training implement. Michael R. Shea in tandem with Gun Digest has just released their latest book  Rimfire Revolution: A Complete Guide to Modern .22 Rifles. I was given a review copy of the book and today on The Rimfire Report we’ll take a look at a few key items inside of this book that I thought stood out to my inner rimfire junkie.

Another week has passed and it is now Friday afternoon. Today we take a look at something we sort of looked at before – Steiner’s PVS-21. However, this is the Model 2740 LPNVM PVS-21 monocular. As always, Friday Night Lights is brought to you by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Springfield Armory is a storied name. Its lineage stretches back to America’s early days, more than two centuries before the genesis of today’s Hellcat pistol. The original version of Springfield Armory was a military weapons storage facility in Massachusetts, ordered by George Washington in 1777. In 1795, they added arms production capability for the fledgling nation’s armed forces, and this practice continued for 173 years. After the facility ceased operations in 1968 and was subsequently declared a National Historic Site, a small gunmaker in Texas began using the name to take advantage of its notoriety. In 1974, the L. H. Gun Company officially became Springfield Armory, Inc. and moved to Illinois. Though the name is the only thing they substantively share in common, the modern private company gives a nod to the historic military armory’s legacy by wearing it.

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.