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The Mako’s slide lock is well protected from accidental engagement and easy to reach with the thumb of the shooting hand. The trigger pull on our test gun was good for a striker-fired handgun, and it had a very distinct and audible reset. Ours came with two 10-round magazines, one of which was extended-making the pistol much more comfortable in hand. The pistol is advertised as coming with an 11-round and a 13-round extended magazine. Both are fitted with three-dot Tritium sights. We tested the Optics-Installed version which comes with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500 reflex sight and costs $200 more than the standard version, which is also optics ready. It also received the second-highest score for suitability for concealed carry. The Mako functioned flawlessly and delivered the second-best score on precision from the bench. Best Revolver: Korth 2.75-inch Carry Special (Score: 85.04) This was the one feature our test group did not like. The pistol disassembles easily enough, but a flat-blade screwdriver is required. The rear sight is smartly devoid of unnecessary dots and the front sight has a white dot.
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The slide stop is of minimal proportions to prevent accidental engagement, but is positioned well enough for thumb control if that’s how you like to release the slide. An additional backstrap is supplied to help you adjust the grip to fit your hand. The GX4 has a reversible magazine release and comes with two 11-round magazines with a much-appreciated extended base plate. We experienced no stoppages with the GX4. Stacked up against all the other handguns in the test, this pistol ranked third, and had a best-of-the-test score of 4.64 points out of 5 on the value scale. However, with its easy-to-see sights, it was very manageable on all the practical drills and scored fourth place overall in that category. At only 6 inches long and 4.4 inches high, it is an amazingly compact, and lightweight pistol. It is a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol, with a passive trigger safety, and a removable slide plate for optics mounting. If you like the way a Glock looks and feels in your hand, you’ll like the Taurus GX4. It’s a drill where easy-shooting guns with good sights stand out. But at the same time, it requires a shooter to see the sights and deliver fast and accurate hits. This drill is a great measure of how hard the recoil of a handgun is to control. Called the Forty-Five Drill, it requires you to draw from the holster and fire five shots into a 5-inch circle at 5 yards in less than 5 seconds. The third drill was my standard evaluation drill when evaluating defensive handguns. After drawing the gun, we hammered two quick shots to the torso and then-as fast as possible-made a precision shot on a swinging head-plate. We modified the drill to help us better evaluate our interface with each handgun while under pressure, and strived for a par time of 2 seconds. Normally, this drill requires double-tapping a torso target at five yards twice, evaluating the effects, and then firing a head shot if needed. The second drill was a version of the Failure Drill. We also needed help with ammunition, targets, and holsters, and without Federal, Buffalo Bore, Thompson Targets, and Galco, our test of the best handguns would not have been possible.įederal provided 9mm HST ammo and it was used to test every 9mm handgun. This gave us a balanced opinion of experienced shooters, aged from 22 to 57 years. So, to help with the test, I invited Field & Stream senior editor, Matthew Every trained law enforcement SWAT officer Will McGuire and graduate of Gunsite Academy’s 250 pistol course Sebastian Mann. I use the word “we,” because one shooter cannot provide a practical evaluation of how a group of handguns might appeal or interface with different people. We’d like to help prevent that, and it’s why we conducted a test at my home and private range in West Virginia to evaluate as many of the new-for-2022 handguns as we could find. If you’re one of the thousands of people looking for a new handgun, the last thing you want is to experience buyer’s remorse the first time you take it to the range. But guns cost money and with inflation, money is tight. More people are buying handguns than ever before, making them the best-selling firearms in America right now.