The Loadout Room
Professional Gear Reviews
First Shot Let me tell you, few things in life hit harder than a .45 ACP from a slab-sided chunk of American steel. And while this one technically hails from Turkey, the Tisas 1911A1 is like that smiling immigrant in basic training who shows up, shakes your hand firm, and immediately volunteers for airborne school. […]
In the past year, the gun writer community has been hit by a double-whammy of the untimely passings of two all-time great firearms scribes, Mike “Duke” Venturino and John Taffin. “Duke” passed back on June 9, 2024 following a brief illness related due to complications from heart disease. (I haven’t been able to ascertain Mike’s […]
Besides being my all-time personal sentimental favorite pistol, the Beretta 92FS, aka M9, is a truly iconic combat handgun. Believe it or not, the Beretta 92/M9 pistol series is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, which by happy happenstance (alliterative wordplay intended) falls the year before the 500th anniversary of its manufacturer, which just so […]
Built Like a Spartan, Worn Like a Ghost There’s a scene in Halo: Reach, right before everything goes completely sideways, where Noble Team gets ready to make their last stand. Armor scarred. Visors cracked. Ready to die on their feet rather than live on their knees. That’s the kind of energy the Vakarian Plate Carrier […]
Some rifles fade into obscurity. Others refuse to go quietly. Then there’s the M14…the Cold War warhorse that refused retirement, kept punching past its prime, and earned a cult following among shooters, soldiers, and salty old marksmen alike. Born in the shadow of the M1 Garand and overshadowed by the M16, the M14 is that […]
“The WeekenD’orr” Beretta vs. Makarov: Who’s The Big Winner? Okay, mea culpa: as my shooting buddies know, I’m a big-time Beretta fanboy. The 9mm Beretta 92FS AKA the M9 is U.S. military circles, is my sentimental favorite semiautomatic pistol, and indeed the very first pistol I truly fell in love with. (Strictly platonically speaking, of […]
How one brutally effective American icon bridged Prohibition and World War – and became one of the loudest symbols of American firepower. Before Delta carried suppressed MP5’s, before Marines stacked bodies in Fallujah with M16’s, there was a time when American warfighters waded into battle with 10 pounds of walnut and steel. Slinging .45 caliber […]
Sprayin’ and prayin’ like Karl from Die Hard, I finally got to rock the Steyr AUG in full-auto—and lemme tell ya, that progressive trigger ain’t for the faint of finger.
It weighed over 20 pounds, jammed when it felt like it, and chewed through belts of 7.62 NATO like a chainsaw on meth…but for the American warfighter in Vietnam, the M60 was more than just a machine gun. It was an iron pig that ate communism for breakfast. Birth of a Beast Born out of […]
As those of you dear readers who also read my stuff on The National Interest may recall, back on 2 January 2025, my review of the Ruger Wrangler .22 LR single-action (SA) revolver was published. (I had acrually test-fired the gun back on 17 December 2024.) Therein, I’d noted that in 30 years as a gun owner, I’d […]
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