Pistols

Watch Black Panther’s Micheal B. Jordan learn how to shoot from John Wick’s coach

Over the past few years, footage of Keanu Reeves demonstrating his prowess on Taran Tactical’s 3-gun range has taken the internet by storm — and with good reason. In this modern era of high budget special effects and personal politics seeping into people’s work, it’s not all that common to see anyone in Hollywood pick up a gun, let alone wield one with such a demonstrated level of expertise.

Recently, new footage of Halle Berry tearing it up on the same course hit the web, showing that it’s not just Keanu that takes his training for the Wick series seriously. Now, Taran Tactical has uploaded some new footage of a movie star taking down targets at his range — but this one wasn’t for any of the John Wick films. This star was learning proper firearm handling for a different wildly popular franchise: the Marvell Cinematic Universe.

In particular, he was training to fight Black Panther.

Micheal B. Jordan’s performance in Black Panther has been described by some as among the best of any Marvel villain. His role as Killmonger is, perhaps, one of the better developed bad guys in the MCU, but it’s hard to discount the level of realism delivered through Jordan’s performance — and now some of that realism makes just a bit more sense:

Watch: Griffon Industries (and some models) give you a refresher in firearm safety

Here at The Loadout Room, we’ve presented the rules of firearm safety in a number of different ways: from think pieces to analysis, from training tips to horror stories, but throughout all of our efforts to help keep our fellow firearm enthusiasts honest and responsible, there’s one thing we never thought of trying: lingerie.

Fortunately for all of us, Griffon Industries got to it before we could.

In this video, released on Griffon’s Facebook profile, you can see the same old firearm safety rules we’ve all grown so accustomed to, but accompanied by underwear clad models holding assorted AR platforms and shotguns, instead of the traditionally grizzled firearms instructor we all remember being yelled at by. We would, of course, be remiss if we pretended we watched this video because we felt the burning need for a refresher on the fundamentals, but in a way, that’s part of the (potentially unintentional) genius of this marketing campaign.

In the United States, many people spend a lot of time championing the right to carry, without placing much focus on the responsibility we bear when carrying our favorite firearms.

When you spend a lot of time around firearms, it’s easy to grow complacent about the basics. We’ve all heard stories about people shooting themselves in the leg when exercising poor trigger discipline on the draw, or killing themselves when cleaning their firearms (despite unloading the weapon literally being the very first step in the cleaning process)… and as easy as it can be to dismiss these stories as nothing more than idiots being, well, idiots, the fact remains that all of us are capable of making mistakes when we start to give ourselves allowances in terms of things like safety.

You know you should wear your seat belt when you drive to work, but it’s easy to get away with forgoing that simple step on drive after drive, until the safety rule itself begins to feel like it wasn’t really meant for you in the first place. After all, you know how to drive, you have never been in a crash, you aren’t the guy or girl in those stories, right?

Until one day, you are, and just like that, you’re the subject of a safety brief, rather than the exception to the rule.

Firearm safety is the sort of thing we all can use frequent reminders about, but there are only so many different ways to dress up the same old information before the voice attached to the lesson starts to sound like the adults in Charlie Brown. If throwing some under-dressed models in the mix is enough to get you to re-certify your non-existent annual training requirements in firearm safety, it seems worth the production budget Griffon spent on this video.

Or maybe that’s just a whole bunch of justification to hit play one more time. We’ll leave that up to you.

Watch Griffon Industries new firearm safety video below:

Image courtesy of Griffon Industries/YouTube

Ammo Evolution: .38 Special Treasury Load

When I was a young man in the 70s, my brother and I spent a lot of time on police ranges, because our dad was an officer and rangemaster for the California Highway Patrol (CHP). As “range rats” of the highest order, we gladly took care of the chores that none of the officers wanted to do, such as posting targets, policing spent brass, issuing ammunition, and so forth.

In between relays, we got to shoot a bit ourselves. Mostly it was with our .22s, but sometimes we shot our dad’s duty gun (a 6” Python) with the hot .38 Special cartridge issued by the Patrol. This cartridge, known as the “Treasury Load,” is frequently confused with the more popular “FBI Load,” and there’s a lot of misconceptions about it in the shooting world. Therefore, I thought the RevolverGuy audience might enjoy it if we explored this interesting bit of revolver history and set the record straight on it.

Back In The Day . . .

If you could go back in your time machine to the 1950s or 1960s to visit with an American police officer, you could pretty much bet your return ticket that he’d be carrying a .38 Special revolver loaded with cartridges that contained 158 grain, round nose lead (RNL) bullets. This ammunition was used almost exclusively, despite its well-deserved reputation as a poor fight stopper, because there really weren’t many other options in the most popular of police calibers. At best, you could switch to a semiwadcutter (SWC) design, which might do a better job in some situations (such as, if a bone was hit), but you could still count on it over-penetrating the target and generally performing quite miserably. Any serious attempt at improving your sidearm’s potency would have to begin with a caliber switch, moving up to a .38/44, the .357 Magnum, or one of the big bores beginning with a “4.”

A small group of experimenters was determined to change this state of affairs, and get the .38 Special up off its knees. In the late 1950s, men like Jim Harvey and Lee Jurras were playing with jacketed, .35 caliber rifle bullets that had been turned down on lathes, and given a hollowpoint cavity up front. They shot them in .38 caliber revolvers with great results, and were encouraged to develop the concept.

A Super Idea

Harvey and others like him were making important contributions to the birth of jacketed hollowpoint (JHP) bullets for handguns, but it was Jurras who turned the idea into a commercial reality. In 1963, Jurras established an ammunition company to go mainstream with the idea of pushing a jacketed hollowpoint bullet at fast velocities to promote expansion out of handguns. His company, known as SuperVel, would seriously upset the apple cart with this radical idea.

Jurras’ early JHP designs were unlike anything the market had seen. There were molds available to cast all-lead hollowpoints before this, but the relatively soft bullets smeared in barrels when pushed too fast. Encasing the base and the bearing surface with a copper jacket prevented leading, while allowing the unjacketed front end of the bullet to remain soft, for expansion. There had been no commercially-available handgun ammunition loaded with JHPs like this prior to Jurras bringing them to market.

The JHP design was only part of the special formula, though. The other part was the use of a lightweight-for-caliber projectile that was launched at high speeds, to ensure the cavity would open. Those old, heavy, 158 RNL bullets plodded along somewhere in the 800 fps range (and possibly slower) from the 4” guns carried by most police officers, but Jurras’ new .38 Special load pushed a lightweight, 110 grain JHP out the barrel in the neighborhood of 1,100 fps. At this speed, the primitive hollowpoint had enough energy to expand, increasing the effect of the bullet while also reducing the likelihood of over-penetration.

With his high speed, lightweight, JHP designs, Jurras was not only introducing a new technology to the market, but an entirely new philosophy for achieving the desired performance from a defensive handgun. When introduced around 1965 to 1966, the idea captured the imagination of the shooting world, and when the highly influential Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office contracted with the fledgling company in 1967, it accelerated law enforcement interest in the concept of a high speed, lightweight, JHP.

Sadly, the innovative SuperVel company soon fell on hard times, and closed its doors by January of 1975, but the high speed, lightweight, JHP was an idea that was too compelling to go away.

Not Just Currency

In the 1970s, the Department of the Treasury was the home to such diverse law enforcement agencies as the Customs Service and the Secret Service. Given the unique nature of their mission, the latter was intrigued by the idea of a hard-hitting, .38 Special load that wouldn’t overpenetrate and risk injury to innocent bystanders.

At the time, the FBI was starting to look hard at the 158 grain lead semiwadcutter hollowpoint (LSWCHP) which had been pioneered by the Saint Louis Police Department (accordingly, the Winchester product code for this load was “W38SPD”). This cartridge was loaded to Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute (SAAMI) +P pressures, and clocked around 900 fps in the early versions out of a 4” barrel (1000+ fps velocities were reported by some sources, but these were probably from test barrels, not real guns), but before long the recipe was changed and velocities dropped about 100 fps. The FBI adopted this cartridge in 1972, leading to the popular “FBI Load” moniker, and kept it until it was replaced by a 147 grain +P+ Federal Hydra-Shok in the late 80s.”

Same bullet weight; Radically different performance! The 158 RNL was a miserable stopper, but the 158 LSWCHP was the real deal. It started as a special load for the St. Louis PD (note the product code) but later gained popularity as the “FBI Load.” The FBI Load was actually more common in police service than the Treasury Load.

The 158 +P LSWCHP developed an early reputation for excellent performance in such diverse cities as Saint Louis, Chicago, Dallas and Miami, but the Secret Service was more drawn to the high speed, lightweight JHPs pioneered by SuperVel. The 110 grain JHP at around 1,100 fps was especially attractive to the Secret Service, because the bullet still had sufficient velocity to expand when it was fired out of a compact revolver, like those frequently carried by the plainclothes agents. The 158 +P LSWCHP performed great out of a 4” or longer service gun, but when it was fired in a 2” gun it frequently failed to expand and risked over-penetration, which was unacceptable in the crowded environment that characterized the Secret Service operation.

The Real “Q”

So, with SuperVel already struggling to meet demand and pay the bills (largely because the majors were choking off their supply of new cases) the Secret Service contracted with Winchester to supply the desired product.

Then and now, it was standard practice at Winchester to add a “Q” prefix to the product code of loads developed for law enforcement and military contracts. As a result, the load developed for the Treasury Department’s Secret Service was given the product code, “Q4070.”

Not surprisingly, the Q4070 load followed a familiar pattern. It had a 110 grain jacketed hollowpoint that clocked about 1,100 – 1,150 fps out of a 4” barrel, and about 1,000 – 1,050 fps out of a 2” tube. The 1,000 fps mark was a critical target, because designers hadn’t yet learned how to optimize the shape of hollowpoint cavities, and these early bullets needed the velocity to develop enough hydrostatic shock to force the walls of the cavity open.

Reaching this velocity with available powders was not possible within the industry standard pressure limits for the .38 Special or .38 Special +P. At the time, SAAMI used a non-linear unit of measurement known as a “copper unit of pressure” (c.u.p.) to evaluate internal case pressures (now superseded by the more precise pounds per square inch, or p.s.i.). Standard pressure .38 Special was capped at around 18,900 c.u.p. (now, 17,000 p.s.i.) and the higher pressure .38 Special +P was capped at about 22,200 c.u.p. (now 20,000 p.s.i.), but even this wasn’t high enough to reliably squeeze 1,100 fps out of the cartridge. As a result, Winchester took the unprecedented step of loading the Q4070 to pressure levels that exceeded SAAMI standards by 15% – 20%. This made the Q4070 a 23,500 c.u.p. cartridge, which was well beyond any of the .38 Special or .38 Special +P loads from the major manufacturers.

Under Pressure

Since Winchester had exceeded SAAMI standards for the .38 Special +P, and didn’t want the ammunition to find its way into older revolvers with questionable metallurgy, or newer revolvers with aluminum frames or cylinders, they marked the cartridges with a first-ever “+P+” headstamp (“WCC+P+” on top, and “xx” on the bottom, where “xx” represented the year), and marked the packaging with a warning that covered the entire rear panel of the box. Winchester would only sell the ammunition directly to law enforcement agencies (a “For Law Enforcement Use Only / Not For Retail Sale” warning on the box would later cause consternation among the misinformed when surplus made its way into the commercial market), and even they had to sign a waiver that acknowledged the potential for firearm damage as a result of the nonstandard pressures.

In truth, the SuperVel load that preceded the Q-load was probably operating in the same region (numerous anecdotal reports indicate the SuperVel load was actually hotter, and gun writer Patrick Sweeney recently discovered that an old box of SuperVel 110 grain .38 Special tested over 1,700 p.s.i. beyond the SAAMI .38 Special +P pressure limit but the small outfit had never marked their cartridges accordingly. As a SAAMI-compliant operation though, Winchester wanted to ensure that everybody understood this was a tiger of a different stripe.

Science . . . Fiction?

Shortly after the Secret Service’s adoption of the Q4070, which became universally known as the “Treasury Load,” the federal government launched an intensive study of police ammunition that was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and their Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). The project, which began in 1973, introduced the concept of the Relative Incapacitation Index (RII), which was intended to allow comparisons between ammunition and express a load’s ability to stop an opponent.

The RII was the output of a model that had many flaws. The worst were an overemphasis on temporary stretch cavity dimensions and a scoring system that rewarded shallow penetration depths. In the model, only frontal torso shots were evaluated, and since the vital organs are close to the surface of the body from this angle, the model favored loads that expanded quickly and created a large stretch cavity in 20% ballistic gelatin very early in the wound track.

Rounds that performed like this were given a higher RII value than those that didn’t when the test results were published in 1975. For example, the low energy, non-expanding, and highly penetrative 158 RNL received an RII of only 8.6, but the high energy, rapidly expanding, and shallowly penetrating Treasury Load scored a 17.9 RII. The FBI Load didn’t score as well as the Treasury Load, earning a 17.2 RII in the test.

Street Results

Buoyed by the results of the NIJ study and its prestigious adoption by the Secret Service, the Treasury Load was adopted by many federal, state, county and municipal agencies across the country. The largest of the non-federal agencies was the influential California Highway Patrol, which adopted the round in 1976 along with their new Smith & Wesson Model 67 and 68 revolvers, and their Second Six speedloaders.

For agencies that were accustomed to the performance (or lack thereof) of 158 RNL, the Treasury Load was a significant improvement. Officers and agencies reported that the round hit harder, and did a better job of stopping hostilities than the old 158 RNL “widow maker.”

However, there were still some issues with the new round. The biggest problem with the Treasury Load was its shallow penetration (using a modern day yardstick: About 10” through heavy denim into 10% ballistic gelatin from a 4” gun, as compared to 13” – 15” for the FBI Load), which prevented the bullet from going deep enough on some cross-torso shoots, some shoots where an arm was struck before the round entered the torso, or even some frontal shoots on very large individuals with a lot of fat or muscle mass. Additionally, the round often didn’t have what it took to get through tough intermediate barriers like automobile bodies.

But these criticisms have to be measured by the standards of the period. Today, we’re spoiled by advanced, “barrier blind” bullets that can punch through intermediate obstacles and still have enough energy to penetrate and expand in the target, but not overpenetrate. We can “have it all” with today’s high-tech bullets, but at the dawn of the 1970s things weren’t as good. Back then, you could choose from: A low energy icepick (.38 Special 158 RNL); A high energy icepick (anything in .357 Magnum); A low energy, pure lead hollowpoint that would penetrate reasonably, but might or might not expand (the FBI Load), or; A high energy, jacketed hollowpoint that would almost always expand, but not penetrate very deeply (the Treasury Load). If you wanted to get into cars, then you had to dump the .38 Special entirely and go with a .357 Magnum firing 158 grain semiwadcutters or jacketed softpoints, and expect them to overpenetrate in human bodies like a hardened drill bit. You pays your money and you makes your choice.

Industry standard test protocols, 10% ballistic gelatin, 12” minimum penetration depths, and an emphasis on permanent crush cavity over temporary stretch cavity were all still more than a decade away when the Treasury Load knocked its first felon into the dirt. Judging by contemporary standards, the Treasury Load was a really attractive option.

As a result, many agencies made it their own. It generally performed well for them in the street, particularly out of energy-robbing snubs (which were tough on all loads, but especially the FBI Load). While the FBI Load was more popular and widespread, its track record in police shootings was virtually identical to that of its high speed, lightweight cousin. You could argue a good case for either load, but one thing that everybody agreed on, is that the two competitors offered a dramatic improvement over the dismal 158 RNL that they replaced.

Other Issues

One difference from the FBI Load was the strain that the overpressure Treasury Load put on the guns and shooters that fired it. The Treasury Load had a loud bark and made a lot of flash for a .38 Special (more so than the 158 +P LSWCHP) and this could be a difficult issue for some shooters to overcome.

More significantly, the intense pressure generated by the Q-load took a toll on frames, cylinders, and lockworks. Even the stronger .357 Magnum revolvers suffered from accelerated wear when fed a steady diet of the Treasury Load. Magnum loads would wear a gun out faster, but the Treasury Load came close, and created stretching and endshake problems much faster than any other .38 Special or .38 Special +P did (but that’s a story for another time).

Lastly, the Treasury Load could be really dirty (especially in short barreled guns). The burn left a lot of soot, and a lot of extra powder flakes left behind to migrate under the extractor star and into all the nooks and crannies that you’d normally want to keep clean on a wheelgun.

The Other Treasury Load

Federal Cartridge Company introduced their own version of the Treasury Load shortly after the Q4070 appeared from Winchester, and assigned the product code “38F – TD” (“TD” for Treasury Department) to it. Like Winchester, Federal restricted sales of this product to law enforcement agencies that were willing to accept the risk of operating beyond SAAMI +P pressure standards.

Federal didn’t headstamp the cartridges or label the packaging with the “+P+” logo like Winchester did, but these were definitely +P+ loads. The Federal cartridges started with a “FC LE” headstamp, and later went to a “FC xx” headstamp, where “xx” represented the year of manufacture.

The two products were similar in design and construction, but there were differences between them. While both Winchester and Federal made continuous changes to the cartridges over their lifespan (i.e., new cavity designs, the addition of jacket skives, changes to jacket lengths, different powders, etc.) it can be generally stated that the Federal version of the Treasury Load wasn’t loaded as hot as the Winchester, had a bigger hollowpoint cavity, was less consistent in terms of velocity, and the Federal bullet wasn’t as robust.

In service, many agencies reported that the Federal bullet expanded to greater diameters than the Winchester and was prone to fragmentation, especially when fired from 4” or 6” barrels (like the Winchester, it expanded but didn’t fragment in the 2” snubs). Therefore, the Federal didn’t penetrate as deeply as the Winchester product, which typically clocked 50+ fps faster than the Federal and retained its full weight with greater reliability.

The Federal 38F – TD was treated as a “substitute standard” by many agencies for the Winchester Q4070 load, but some agencies used it exclusively. The Federal load was used by such agencies as the U.S. Border Patrol (1980 – 1984) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (late 1970s to 1992) as their mainstay, while others (such as the CHP) used it intermittently with the Winchester product, as contracts changed.

Interestingly, the agencies who complained the most about failures with the Treasury Load were those who used the Federal product. The inconsistent velocities, explosive fragmentation, and shallower penetration of the Federal round seem to have handicapped it as a general issue, police duty round. The agencies using the Q4070 load seemed to be more satisfied with the results on the street.

Changes

As mentioned, Winchester and Federal tweaked and advanced the designs as they matured over time. The Winchester Q4070 product code evolved into a Q4169 product code in the mid-1980s, and again into a RA38110HP+ product code in the late 1990s.

Yet, neither of the companies relented on their “law enforcement use only” policy, so other manufacturers, such as Cor-Bon, stepped up to provide their own +P+ versions of the Treasury Load to a hungry commercial market in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Many of these were actually loaded beyond Winchester’s own +P+ pressure specs, plunging shooters ever deeper into uncharted territory.

In time, advances in bullet designs and propellants allowed manufacturers to deliver the desired performance within SAAMI .38 Special +P pressure limits, and the .38 Special +P+ loads disappeared from the market. Even the reincarnated SuperVel has managed to stay within SAAMI +P specs on their new .38 Special load.

The Treasury Load was a big advance in its time, but we have better alternatives to choose from today. Still, I think Lee Jurras would be amazed by the avalanche that his little SuperVel rock started!

About the Author: Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Mike Wood is a certified revolver nut, an NRA Law Enforcement Division-certified Firearms Instructor, and a columnist at PoliceOne.com. He is also the author of Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis, the definitive study of the infamous, 1970 California Highway Patrol shootout in Newhall, California. Please visit the official website for this book at www.newhallshooting.com for more information.

Find more articles like this at RevolverGuy.com!

Shopping for unusual firearm parts? How Not To Commit a Felony via Wish and Amazon

Recoil Magazine recently reported that several people who have purchased Glock full auto rear plates had been taken into custody by law enforcement. The ATF had gotten Paypal records indicating they’ve purchased these parts and is now pursuing these folks. This even caused one man to apparently jump out a window with a whole bunch of these plates and injure himself quite a bit before being detained. These guys weren’t criminal masterminds, they were just guys with a smartphone who became felons by being idiots. They purchased these gun parts from the Wish app. Yep, ordered, and shipped to their home without much hassle really. In about 5 minutes you could install it on your Glock and rock out at the cyclic rate.

Making a machine gun without an FFL Type 7 is a big freakin’ deal and a major violation of the National Firearms Act. I hate the NFA and the Hughes Amendment, but I recognize that violating it is a quick trip to Federal Prison with a hefty fine likely to follow. I’m a nice guy so I’m going to help you a little and give you a guide to not committing a felony via Wish, Amazon, Alibaba, and other e-commerce sights.

How Do I Avoid a Felony with Wish?

First off do not buy a full auto switch on Wish or Amazon. In fact, I’ve seen these switches on Amazon, but they are never properly labeled for what they are. They may advertise them as airsoft switches, or even semi-auto switches. Just don’t. They are so common they are the first suggested search when you type Glock in the Wish Search bar.

That’s not the only felonious gun part they sell. You can even find silencers and silencer parts. Sometimes they are advertised as muzzle brakes and are just the baffles without a sleeve. The ATF has ruled those are suppressor parts and possession of them without a tax stamp of FFL/SOT constitutes a felony. So just say no!

The Almost Felonies of Wish

The two above are very clearly felonies, there is no way to order one from Wish or Amazon legally. There are ways to possess them legally, but even with the proper license neither Wish nor Amazon has the complaint set up to allow a transfer of these parts.

However, there are some other parts selling on both sites that could be felonies, but ordering one is fine, it’s how you use it.

First, there are stocks designed to attach to pistols, again mostly Glocks. These stocks are legal in a few different ways. If your Glock is an SBR they are legal to use. After installing a 16-inch barrel on your Glock they are legal to use. If you own a Glock airsoft gun and not an actual Glock you are good to go. The same goes for those goofy Glock vertical Foregrips.

Another item you can find almost anywhere is a solvent trap adapter. A Solvent trap adapter is a thread adapter to allow you to use an oil filter to catch solvent as you clean your bore. However, some folks use these as suppressors and without a proper form and tax stamp its illegal.

Receivers and frames show up to, and these can be illegal. However, if they are 80% lowers, or frames they are perfectly legal to purchase without an FFL. Just make sure to grab the correct 80 percent lower jig. Sometimes you can find Poly 80 Glocks on Amazon, which are completely legal to buy. However, complete lowers or frames require an FFL and Wish and Amazon aren’t exactly compliant with ATF guidelines because they aren’t set up to sell guns.

Shop Safe, Shop S-Mart

When it comes to buying gun parts its just a good idea to stay away from poorly described Amazon and Wish entries. Even the legal parts are typically crap overall and will rarely last. Buy from reputable companies and shop Smart, people. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Buying and possessing these parts is illegal and it turns out the ATF is keeping their eyes open in this regard.

The Phalanx Defense Stealth Operator – New and Improved

A long time ago I purchased my first Stealth Operator holster. It was a kydex holster that could accommodate over 150 different holsters securely. I was curious, and I consider most universal holsters to be absolute garbage. However, the holster was quite affordable. This was 4 years ago and to this day that same Phalanx Defense Stealth Operator holster still works like an absolute champ. It accommodates a wide variety of guns, including big name guns like Glock, S&W, and even Walther and CZ. It accommodates mostly double stack, polymer frame guns.

That being said it has no problems with my Walther PPS, which is a single stack 9mm. They’ve updated the construction of the Stealth Operator to last even longer, and they’ve utilized redesigned belt loops and more modern screws. Additionally, they’ve created a special edition model that is Hydro dipped in the colors of Old Glory. This is the compact model and it does leave the barrel and slide of most guns exposed but fits nearly any modern gun. For a complete list of guns that are compatible with the system check out their new website here.

The Stealth Operator Improved

The kind folks at Phalanx Defense sent me one of the new Stealth Operator compact models, hydro dipped in Old Glory. Comparing it to my older model I see a few differences. Instead of screws, the two halves of the holster are bolted together. The belt loops are slightly curved more than the older models and this allows for a more form-fitting design.

This pulls the gun in closer to the body. This holster arrived at the right time as I did need a new holster for a Polymer 80 Glock I finished some time ago. Most Glock holsters won’t accommodate it, but the Stealth Operator does so with ease. This is the full-sized model and the holster makes it easy to secure.

It holds the gun close to my body and makes it nearly invisible under nothing more than a T-shirt. It prints just a hair, but it still an impressive amount of concealment for such a big gun.

Because it holds the gun tight to the body you will feed some abrasion from the grip on the gun as it rubs throughout the day. That’s just part and parcel of concealed carry though. The holster itself is sized for 1.5-inch belts and fits nice and tight on those belts. I’ve used it in combination with my Propper Carbon Carry belt and they’ve been a great combo

Hows the Retention?

Retention is going to be a concern when you try to design a holster to accommodate a wide variety of guns. However, the design of the Stealth Operator uses a rather simple but elegant solution. This is a bulge on both sides of the holster that creates a friction point. This clips in over the trigger guard with a nice and loud ‘click’. It secures the weapon well and for concealed carry it works well.

You can hang the gun upside down and it’s not going anywhere, but when it comes time to draw the gun its a smooth move. I’ve only had and used this specific holster for a couple of weeks now, but durability wise I trust it. My previous model has lasted me a good four years without any issues. Retention has always been tight, even with the old school screw design.

Oddballs

What I originally loved about the Stealth Operator is that it accommodates guns that can be tough to find a holster for. Newer designs or those not well known don’t always have the best holster market. The Stealth Operator is often an excellent go to if your gun isn’t the most common on the block.

I will say at the time the Stealth Operator will fit most popular pistols, especially if they are polymer frame double stack guns. This is an affordable and well-made holster assembled in the Great State of Florida. I’ve been a fan, and continue to be a fan. If you need an affordable and reliable holster designed for daily carry this is a great choice. If you have a multitude of guns and don’t want to break the bank buying holsters this may be the ultimate solution for you.

The Evolution of the Pistol Brace

I’ve gotten nostalgic recently; you see I gave a friend of mine an old SB 15 brace I had lying around. Recently they whipped it out and I got nostalgic. Seeing that old pistol brace brought back good memories of a time where I was more carefree and thumbing my nose at the ATF was more of a hobby and less of a life calling. I love pistol braces and use tons of them, so looking back and seeing how the design has evolved is fascinating.

Humble Beginnings

The SB 15 changed the way the firearm world looked at AR, AK, and SMG lite style pistols. Often called the SIG brace due to SIG’s early involvement the SB 15 hit the ground running. These style of the gun were once seen as unbalanced, awkward and heavy weapons. The addition of a brace changed the way the cookie crumbled. Especially after the ATF came out and said you could shoulder it and that they didn’t regulate the improper use of accessories.

The Evolution of the Pistol Brace — Evolution has Occured

The SB 15 was revolutionary, but it was somewhat large, and looking back a little ugly. Gun owners are a lot of things, and one of the most prominent is we are vain. We want guns to look pretty. With that in mind evolution occurred, and the SBX was born. This sleeker, better-looking brace was only the beginning of what braces could and would become.

The Brace Industry Grows

Outside of SB Tactical other companies were beginning to take note of their success and we started seeing pistol braces introduced by a company known as Gear Head Works produced a minimalist brace that became massively popular with CZ Scorpion users and KAK Industry released a quasi-adjustable brace that was different in function and design.

The KAK Shockwave Blade came to be quite popular due to its minimalist design and affordable price tag.

SB Tactical didn’t rest on their laurels though. The SBX was sleeker, smaller, and lighter. It was a welcome upgrade, but evolution continued, and the SOB and SBM4 were born. While the performance was similar in many aspects, the aesthetics were improved massively with SBM4 and SOB looking like straight M4 style stocks, but they retained the overall simple brace design.

SB Tactical has long made braces for the AK and AR that worked on AR tubes. However, in 2017 they hit the market hard by making braces compatible with nearly everything. This includes models compatible with the CZ Scorpion, the MP5 clones, B&T weapons, the MPX, the CZ Bren, the Uzi, and even the Shockwave and Tac 14 style firearms.

On top of that, they introduced the SBPDW, a brace design in collaboration with Maxim Defense. This was a PDW style collapsing brace that was incredibly functional and compact. This was the first genuinely adjustable brace that offered three positions. Also, looks at it, it’s fantastic.

Right behind the SBPDW was the SBL, and SB Mini brought to life a minimalist design to the pistol brace realm. The SBL is one of my favorites for the Remington TAC 14 and my KPOS Scout. It’s small, lightweight, and best of all the SBL and SB Mini are affordable.

Let’s Adjust!

2017 was a big year for pistol braces, and one of the more interesting was the release of the Tailhook Mod 2 from Gear Head Works. This brace is one of the most robust on the market and could adjust like a standard M4 stock and it gave you five different adjustment points. The Gear Head Works pistol brace used a proprietary tube, but will adapt to any AR 15 style tube adapter and can utilize a standard carbine length buffer and buffer spring. This heavy-duty brace is my favorite on the Shockwave and Tac 14 series of firearms.

At the same time, SB Tactical was working on the SBA3, which we wouldn’t see until SHOT 2018. The SBA3 was an adjustable pistol brace that would utilize a standard carbine tube and offer 5 points of adjustment. To me, the SBA3 is the pinnacle of pistol braces when it comes to the overall aesthetic. It looks and functions, and feel like a modern M4 stock. The SBA3 comes complete with a QD slot for sling attachments and looks fantastic on a AR 15 pistol. It rides shotgun on my 80 lower receiver build.

Trailing not far behind was KAK Industries with the Shockwave Blade 2.0. They shrunk the blade design even more and added a small lever to allow adjustment over its proprietary tube. The KAK Industries Blade 2.0 is the most affordable of the adjustable braces and certainly one of the lightest.

The Pistol Brace of Tomorrow!

The pistol brace market is only growing, and companies like Strike Industries and Doublestar are releasing their braces. As the demand grows we see competition rise, and as competition increases, prices drop, and innovation takes hold. The companies all seem to be doing their own thing, each bringing different options to the market.

Currently SB Tactical is releasing the FS1913, a side folding brace designed around the MCX rear stock system. Gear Head Works is working on the Mod 3 which looks to be a PDW style brace. On top

Outside of the standard pistol brace, a company called Pistol Mounted Solutions released a Pistol Storage Device that fits on a weapon like an AR and holds extra magazines instead of being a brace.

The market is just going to keep growing for the pistol brace, and I’m excited to see what’s next.

Legal Mumbo Jumbo

As we all know the legality of the pistol brace has been a bit nuts. First, the ATF said it was legal and shoulder it if you want. Then you said, “Nope we changed our minds, shouldering might make your gun an SBR. Then SB Tactical, a company founded by the designer of the original brace, went to battle. They got the lawyers part of sending lawyers guns and money. In April 2017 the ATF reversed their decision and said you can shoulder it… but don’t buy one and install it with the intent to shoulder it and don’t modify the design to make it easier to shoulder.