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1 week ago | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
The micro-compact 9 mm pistol fad could fairly be laid at the feet of Kahr in the late 1990s, but for whatever reason it never really took off at the time. Maybe there weren’t enough “Shall-Issue” states, or maybe the early Kahr 9 mm pistols were too expensive, but regardless, these tiny nines remained niche. We hadn’t gotten around to railroading time yet.
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1 month ago | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
Big-bore carry guns are trending larger now, although Charter Arms’ compact Bulldog remains in production. I’m at a point in my long association with firearms where I don’t have a favorite type of handgun or a favorite cartridge anymore. I’d like to say that it’s because I’m jaded and sophisticated and generally too cool for such things, but the reality of the matter is I just like too many of them to pick just one.
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2 months ago | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
The chassis of a SIG Sauer P320 legally constitutes a firearm and is therefore engraved with the serial number. It can be fitted with interchangeable grip frames, barrels and slides. To open this column, let’s stipulate one thing: If we are going to have laws regarding handguns, there must be some part of that handgun that has the irreducible element or essence of “handgun-ness” to it.
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Mar 3, 2025 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
I live in a neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis. It’s a couple miles north of downtown, but it’s still in the city proper. It’s bounded on the north side by the trendy Broad Ripple arts-and-entertainment district, but it’s mostly quiet residential side streets. Why do I bring this up? Well, it has to do with risk profiling. Living here since 2008 has kept my risk profile low, but over the last five years, since the “Time of the ‘Rona,” it’s actually plummeted even more.
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Feb 13, 2025 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
The magazine-fed, self-loading pistol came to the attention of American shooters at the end of the 19th century thanks to John Moses Browning (JMB), the prolific firearms inventor and a solid candidate for the patron saint of shootin’ stuff for us here in the USA.
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Feb 2, 2025 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
A vintage revolver like the Hand Ejector from Smith & Wesson or a Gen1 Glock G17 are certainly cool, but the cool factor is not the best criterion for choosing an EDC handgun when modern options like the popular SIG Sauer P365 provide greater benefits. I was talking about sighting in the Judge red-dot sight from Gideon Optics on a Taurus 327 T.O.R.O. revolver when I got a dig about a “retro choice” in carry guns. I found this odd, and for a couple of reasons.
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Jan 31, 2025 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
In the movie Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood’s eponymous police inspector utters what is perhaps the most famous revolver-related snippet of dialog in cinema history: “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots, or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself.” A cylinder with a capacity of six rounds is so firmly identified with the revolver that it’s become a nickname for the type of firearm as a whole.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
There was a time, not all that long ago, when the metal-frame service pistol was lying on a slab, having last rites read over its plummeting sales numbers. The law enforcement/military market tends to be even more price-sensitive in many ways than the commercial one, since even a $5 or $10 difference in price adds up fast when you’re buying pistols by the container load.
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Dec 7, 2024 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
The 1911A1’s blade required only a small tenon, while bigger blades benefit from screw attachment. Both types of dovetail offer maximum strength. There are some facts that you distinctly remember learning. For example, I learned how to pronounce “bruschetta” by mispronouncing it in front of a friend whose Sicilian roots run deeper than the lava tubes under Mount Etna.
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Nov 9, 2024 | 
shootingillustrated.com | Tamara Keel
While attending the 2023 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Indianapolis, IN, I noticed that my longtime friend and colleague Caleb Giddings, competitive shooter, firearms instructor and current marketing guru for Taurus USA, was giving a lecture on the place of revolvers in the modern world of concealed carry and personal defense.
