A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted muzzle rise. Barrels with an integral muzzle brake are often said to be ported.
The Beretta 92 is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The Beretta 92 was designed in 1975, and production began in 1976. Many variants in several different calibers continue to be used to the present.
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun or externally attached. The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "clip", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine.
Pump action or slide action is a repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge and typically to cock the hammer/striker, and then pushed forward to load (chamber) a new cartridge into the chamber. Most pump-action firearms use an integral tubular magazine, although some do use detachable box magazines. Pump-action is typically associated with shotguns, although it has been used in rifles and other firearms as well.
Massad F. Ayoob is an American firearms and self-defense instructor. He has taught police techniques and civilian self-defense to both law enforcement officers and private citizens since 1974. He was the director of the Lethal Force Institute in Concord, New Hampshire, from 1981 to 2009, and now operates his own company. Ayoob has appeared as an expert witness in several trials. He served as a part-time police officer in New Hampshire since 1972 and retired in 2017 with the rank of Captain from the Grantham, New Hampshire, police department. On September 30th 2020, Ayoob was named president of the Second Amendment Foundation. His nickname is "the bad ass of self-defense."
The Weaver stance is a shooting technique for handguns. It was developed by Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Jack Weaver during freestyle pistol competition in Southern California during the late 1950s.
The AA-12, originally designed and known as the Atchisson Assault Shotgun, is an automatic combat shotgun developed in 1972 by Maxwell Atchisson. The most prominent feature is reduced recoil. The current 2005 version has been developed over 18 years since the patent was sold to Military Police Systems, Inc. The original design was the basis of several later weapons, including the USAS-12 combat shotgun. The shotgun fires in fully automatic mode only. However, the relatively low cyclic rate of fire of around 300 rounds per minute enables the shooter to fire semi-automatically de facto with brief trigger pulls. It is fed from either an 8-shell box magazine, or a 20- or 32-shell drum magazine.
Para USA (Para) was an American-owned firearms manufacturer. It was the successor to Para-Ordnance, founded in Canada in 1985. It specialized in making M1911-style semi-automatic pistols and components. The company was acquired by Remington Outdoor Company in 2012. In 2015, the Para brand ceased production and was folded into Remington.
The SG 550 is an assault rifle manufactured by Swiss Arms AG in Switzerland. "SG" is an abbreviation for Sturmgewehr. The rifle is based on the earlier 5.56×45mm NATO SIG SG 540.
The MEU(SOC) pistol, officially designated the M45 MEUSOC, is a magazine-fed, recoil-operated, single-action, semiautomatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. A variant of the M1911, it has been the standard-issue side arm for the Force Recon Element of the United States Marine Corps' Marine Expeditionary Units since 1985. It is assigned NATO Stock Number 1005-01-370-7353.
Glock is a brand of polymer-framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was the top performer in reliability and safety tests.
Nighthawk Custom is an American firearm company based in Berryville, Arkansas, US, that manufactures custom M1911 pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, and tactical knives for competition shooters, military, law enforcement and self-defense.
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the propellant gas.
The Gun Digest is an annual firearms book published in the United States by Gun Digest Media. Gun Digest is owned by Caribou Media, LLC. In addition to the annual book, the company releases several volumes a year focused on firearms collecting, self-defense and various firearm models as well as a 16 issue per year print magazine, a television show called Modern Shooter and website, Gundigest.com.
American Handgunner is a magazine dedicated to handguns, handgun hunting, competition shooting, reloading, tactical knives and other shooting-related activities in the United States. It is a sister publication to Guns and American Cop.
Mike Snody is a Southern Texas knife maker who is known for his use of exotic materials in his custom knives. He is currently based in Walsenburg, Colorado.
Medford Knife and Tool is an American custom and production knifemaking and tactical tool making facility founded by Greg Medford in 2010 in Arizona United States.
Offgrid is a magazine dedicated to preparation and survival; featuring articles on making knives, building shelters, bug out bags, and gear reviews.
Zero Tolerance Knives is a knife brand of Kai USA, headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Both Zero Tolerance and Kai USA are members of the Kai Group, a global cutlery company.
The Chiappa M6 Survival Gun is an over and under combination gun that comes in four versions; with a 12 gauge or 20 gauge shotgun barrel over a .22 Long Rifle or .22 Magnum barrel. It has a similar appearance to the original M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon, with a unique skeletonized metal buttstock surrounding a polypropylene foam insert. It also uses double triggers and an enclosed firing mechanism.
