Tamara Keel

2 weeks 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.

1 month ago | 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.

2 months ago | 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.

2 months ago | 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.

2 months ago | 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.