Free Republic

The top job at Oregon State Police has gone to Casey Codding, one of two state police troopers who fatally shot a leader of the armed Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in January 2016, Gov. Tina Kotek announced Monday. Codding, a 27-year veteran of Oregon State Police, shot Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum in the back after Finicum sped his truck toward a roadblock of state SWAT police and FBI agents. State police withheld the names of the two officers who fired at Finicum, but a witness let Codding’s name slip during subsequent court hearings about the shooting. Now superintendent, Codding started...

First developed to combine the attributes of the 9mm Luger and the .45 ACP, this round is now one of the best handgun hunting cartridges made for semiautomatics. Handgun shooters know that two of the most popular calibers are the 9mm Luger (Parabellum) and the .45 ACP. The latter is slow but makes a big hole, while the faster 9mm tends to lose energy quickly once it hits the target but shoots fast and flat. In a perfect world, a gunmaker would bridge these two rounds to make a fast and hard-hitting bullet. It is this very idea that led...

Last year, the U.S. Army began equipping its first units with the service’s new squad designated marksman rifle (SDMR) the M110A1. The use of the new SDMR will provide Army infantry squads with a very potent means of engaging targets up to 600 meters away, and is part of an effort to improve the performance of infantry weapons against effective modern body armors. U.S. Army SDMRs, a Brief History The use of SDMRs within U.S. Army infantry squads emerged as a result of fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where it became clear that the Army’s M4 and M16 rifles...

With positives and negatives, deciding if a red dot sight is right for you boils down to your handgun’s mission. So, in the form of a disclaimer, I am old. Fifty-one years old, to be exact. As a soldier and a cop, I’ve been making a living with a gun for nearly my entire adult life. I can say, with some degree of distinction, that I have carried just about every variety of AR/M-16 that has ever been used by the US military: M-16A1, M-16A2, M203, M4 and the AR-15 patrol rifle. With age comes a certain amount of suspicion...

Glock’s Slimlines offer shooters a thinner pistol frame, ideal for shooters with smaller hands or for situations when concealment is a must. This is achieved by using a thinner, 10-round standard magazine. Although a 10-round magazine certainly offers a lower capacity than some of Glock’s standard pistol sizes, it is nearly unparalleled for a subcompact pistol size. It is worth mentioning too that the 43X is chambered in 9x19mm. Although this is by no means the most powerful handgun cartridge on the market, combined with the 43X’s 10-round magazine capacity, it’s not a bad choice at all.

With high interest in 'cans' and plenty of manufacturers to pick from these days, here's a look at seven of the best units for AR-type rifles. Suppressors, or "cans," are becoming a common accessory on the firearms of professionals and sport shooters. Once viewed as an assassin’s tool used by mobsters and spies, they are now used routinely by military, law enforcement and others. They are not “silencers,” as they used to be referred to. They decrease the decibel level, but they cannot silence a firearm. There are many advantages to running a suppressor on your long gun. In the...

With Lead-Free Projectiles here to stay, these are Eight Great All-Copper Bullets for Hunting, Shooting. I might be dating myself, but I am old enough to remember when unleaded gas was an option over regular (leaded) gasoline. Lead often gets a bad rap, due to its toxicity to people when exposed to high levels. However, the malleability of lead makes it an excellent choice for projectiles, especially during the centuries when firearms underwent radical developments. The simple muzzleloader, firing a patched round ball, could be well fed with a bullet mold and a healthy supply of lead. Our earliest projectiles...

Top loads for Popping Winter/Spring Predators and Varmints. With our big game seasons winding down, it's time to turn our attention to the predators in the later winter and the varmints in the spring. Where the strong, stiff premium bullets – with their bonded cores, monometal construction and partitioned cores – are the darlings of the big game world, the small-bore cartridges that best handle the furbearers and varmints are the opposite: maximum frangibility is a benefit. I enjoy hunting both coyotes and foxes in January and February here in New York, when the fur is prime, and both species...

Lessons from Yesteryear that still Apply Today - Due to the political climate and potential gun bans, revolvers have become fashionable for concealed carry once again. So I thought I would add my two cents on the subject. The first thing that needs to be addressed is why we are 1) practicing with revolvers (or any gun for that matter), and 2) carrying them. Yes, shooting guns safely both in practice and competition is fun, but really the intent is for self-defense purposes. Many a well-known lawman of yesteryear made the revolver famous, including James Butler Hickok aka Wild Bill,...

Large-frame handgun? Small? What caliber? Glock? S&W? It's all about balancing 'Comfort vs Lethality,' says longtime Policeman. One of the best parts about being a cop is HR 218. This law allows officers to carry a firearm in practically every locale in the United States. "Carrying on your badge," as it’s referred to, is one of the few perks law enforcement still enjoys. In 2020, the job lost a lot of its appeal, but I still appreciate the fact that I can carry concealed to protect others and myself. In a perfect world, these rights would be afforded to every...

A US police officer who was fired after shooting dead an unarmed man was temporarily rehired so he could apply for a pension, local media report. Philip Brailsford, 28, killed 26-year-old Daniel Shaver in the hallway of an Arizona hotel in early 2016. He was fired and charged with murder - but was acquitted at trial in 2017. Records show that he was briefly rehired last year so he could apply for a lifetime pension worth more than $2,500 (£2,000) a month. The move meant he could be medically retired - rather than fired - which made him eligible for...