Dave Merrill

1 week ago | recoilweb.com | Dave Merrill

We’re always searching for the compromise that compromises less. The best current balance of weight, capability, and mobility. This dance has taken many forms over the years, but the big needle moves always occur after something new disrupts the status quo. Over two decades ago, one such disruption happened in the world of concealed carry with the release of tiny polymer micro-nines.

2 weeks ago | recoilweb.com | Dave Merrill

In the 21st century, a polymer pistol in a plastic holster is the norm. They have excellent retention and have gotten quite comfortable. New manufacturing methods and materials are cheap and accessible. Still, the allure of leather remains, perhaps because humans have been using animal skins longer than we’ve been using language. Heck, our earliest evidence of leather comes from processing tools that date back over 100,000 years.

3 weeks ago | recoilweb.com | Dave Merrill

Though the seeds of Kimber were sown in the late 1970s and many rifles and designs came before, everything really came to fruition with the release of their first 1911 pistol in 1997. And damn, they really shook things up by releasing a standard gun full of previously-custom-only features at a lower price point. With the launch of the KDS9c, Kimber seeks to do the same again.

4 weeks ago | recoilweb.com | Dave Merrill

For years we’ve been told we can’t make things here anymore. That American buyers are monogamously married to only the cheapest Chinese crap. The world of firearms has some exceptions, but many of these are due to import regulations rather than market forces. One such exception is optics, but that world has always been a bit bipolar.

1 month ago | gundigest.com | Dave Merrill

Every few years we see a technological leap in optics, even though these feats aren’t always immediately obvious to the non-nerds among us. Sometimes these take place in the form of advanced coatings or novel approaches to increasing contrast or reducing optic aberrations, but occasionally it’s much more conspicuous … or maybe not so much. In fact, if you don’t know what you’re looking at here you might mistake it for a large dot optic or perhaps a prismatic.