Of course, there was no bear, and my concerns were completely unfounded. But I wanted to unpack this idea a little bit. Why, in an relatively busy Alaskan state part, was I more concerned about being unarmed than when I’m roaming around metro Atlanta?

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Fast forward 20 years later, and 380 is enjoying something of a comeback. Obviously, the Bodyguard 2.0 is one of the most popular guns on the market today, and just last week Taurus USA announced their popular GX4 Carry is available in 380 ACP as well. So what’s going on with 380? Is it really making a comeback, and if so, why?

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It’s all about Ease of Use

Let’s back this train up. People started getting away from pocket 380s like the LCP because they were hard to shoot well and at the same time, we started to see more micro-9s like the GX4, Glock 43, etc. But then people discovered that when you shrink a 9mm down to the size of a gun like a GX4 or GX4 Carry, it becomes harder to shoot, but also (and most critically) it becomes harder to manipulate. A recoil spring of sufficient force to operate a gun that size can become an obstacle to operate the gun. And yes, I know, this is where we all quote The 13th Warrior and say “grow stronger,” but the reality is that “grow stronger” isn’t an option for your 70 year old grandma.

That’s where the Bodyguard 2.0 was so clever, because by making the gun recoil operated instead of straight blowback like most 380s, you could use a much lighter recoil spring, making the slide incredibly easy to operate. Sure, they chew through their recoil springs in 500 rounds, but 99.5% of the Bodyguard 2.0 pistols sold will never see so much as 200 rounds.

Yeah, Science!

Okay, so some people reading this have no completely checked out, because I’m about to talk about the different ways that semi-automatic handguns operate. Most semi-autos that are chambered in 380 and smaller cartridges operate on what’s called a “straight blowback” design. That means that the barrel is fixed to the frame, and the recoil spring is the only thing that controls the slide’s operation and velocity. This means that as you get smaller and smaller guns, they get snappier and snappier to shoot. Historically, the work around for this was to just make bigger guns. A Taurus 58 or Beretta Cheetah are easy to shoot because they’re the size of a Glock 19 and made out of metal, despite being straight blowback operated.

Now when you get down to Ruger LCP size, the gun is recoil operated. What that means is that the barrel and slide lock together, and for the first few millimeters of slide travel they move together. Nearly all modern handguns chambered in 9mm and up are some form of recoil operated system. The LCP uses a recoil operated system as well, because it was the only way to make 380 even remotely controllable in a gun that size.

But what makes the new crop of 380s interesting is that they’re bigger than LCP, but instead of being straight blowback operated, guns like the Taurus GX4 Carry 380 are recoil operated.

Why that matters

The short version of why you’d want a recoil operated 380 the size of the GX4 Carry is because it has considerably less felt recoil than a 9mm that size. Additionally, because the operating system isn’t entirely blowback, you can put in a much lighter recoil spring than you would in either a 9mm gun or a straight blowback 380, which makes the slide easier to rack.

One of the top consumer complaints any major manufacturer sees about compact defensive pistols is that the slide is too difficult to manipulate, especially for people with diminished hand strength. When you’re dealing with the current crop of micro-compact 9mms like the standard GX4, that makes sense, because you need a heavier recoil spring to keep the gun from beating itself to death.

With a 380 on the other hand, you can, as I mentioned above, go lighter on the spring. The end result is that the gun is easier to operate, easier to shoot, and just generally easier to live with. And that’s important because most people who get a gun for concealed carry don’t want to become USPSA shooters, they’re not interested in IDPA, they’re really not even that interested in getting any better at shooting than they were the moment they bought the gun. And let me tell you, if they find said gun to be annoying in any way, whether it’s operating the slide, felt recoil, or anything, they will never take it to the range and practice with it.

Which is why guns like the GX4 Carry 380 and other recoil operated 380 ACP firearms make sense. They’re awesome for people who are buying their first gun and don’t want an intimidating experience. It’s like a gateway drug that’s also good to shoot and can absolutely be used for personal protection.

But what about stopping power?

380 ACP has a reputation for being underpowered, likely because it usually gets compared to 9mm, which has become the gold standard for defensive pistol cartridges. However, there are plenty of defensive 380 loads available that meet FBI penetration standards. In fact, if you use FMJ for your 380, a lot of the available rounds on the market will exceed FBI standards. My personal recommendation is the Hornady American Gunner XTP load, or the Cor-Bon 90gr JHP.

Does a 380 have less muzzle velocity and kinetic energy than a 9mm? Yes. Does that mean it’s not a suitable round for personal defense? Absolutely not. Remember, the most important part of “stopping power” is actually hitting the target somewhere important. Not to sound like a cliche, but a 44 Magnum in the foot is a lot less effective than a 380 in the aorta.

Also, the good news is that if you’re uncomfortable carrying a 380, guess what? You don’t have to. This post isn’t for you.

380 is having a moment

Right now, 380 is enjoying a little bit of a moment. There are more good platforms for it than ever, there are loads of good bullets out there, and it’s genuinely a viable option for people who want to defend themselves. That’s good news because having options is a good thing. I want people to be spoilt for choices when it comes to picking their defensive firearm.

And again, don’t worry about the terminal ballistics. There are loads of serious professionals out there who carry guns for a living that are carrying some flavor of 32 right now, so by comparison a 380 is like a sledgehammer.

“How did I get myself into this mess,” I muttered as I tried to extract myself from the California scrub brush. Well, it had all started when I answered a phone call from my friend Ron Dan, who also happens to be the President of Field Ethos.

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It starts with a phone call

I was walking the dog when the phone rang. The month of May had been insane, starting with a trip to Utah, then Missouri, then New Orleans. I was looking forward to spending some much deserved time in my actual house.

Of course I answered, because it was Ron. Ron’s cool, so I take his calls. “Hey, do you think Rossi would be down to sponsor a hunt in California?” I knew I needed to clear it with my boss first, so I said tentatively yes and texted our CEO, who greenlit the spend. It didn’t occur to me to ask when the hunt was.

Next week. In California. Welp, so much for staying at home. I packed my bags and a couple of days later was on a plane for San Luis Obispo, in the heart of Central California.

Going Home

At this point I can’t help but think of a line from Return of the Jedi. Right before the fight at the sarlacc pit, Han says to Luke that he thinks his eyes are getting better, because instead of a big dark blur, he sees a big bright blur. Luke responds by saying “there’s nothing to see. I grew up here, you know.” Han then cheekily replies by saying that they’re going to die there.

But for some reason, whenever I go back to California I think of that line. I grew up there, you see, in a little town called Lake Los Angeles. There’s no lake and it’s a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles, so don’t ask about the name. But most importantly, every year we’d take family vacations to the central coast region of California: San Luis Obispo, Cayucos, Pismo Beach, etc. It’s a central part of my childhood memories, and I have a deep love for that part of the country.

I moved away when I was 17, and in the 30 years since then I have gone back exactly five times: for my brother’s wedding, my grandmother’s funeral, the 2011 Steel Challenge, my grandfather’s 95th birthday, and my grandfather’s funeral. My grandfather’s funeral was the last time I went back, and that was almost 15 years ago. Something about that trip did a number to me, and I had no desire to go back to California after that.

Until I was on a plane going to hog hunt, of all things. “It’s just a work trip,” I told myself on the flight. “That’s all.”

We’re Riding What?

As we were driving out to the ranch, Ron dropped the other shoe on me. We were going to be riding horses. Now mind you, the last time I rode a horse was when I was 8, so I’m not exactly an accomplished equestrian. I’m not afraid of horses, but I prefer my transportation to not have a mind of its own and opinions about what direction we should go.

So there I was, sitting on a horse named Cruz as I rode out into 70,000 acres of pristine California ranch land. The land owners are a corporation that runs the largest free range cattle operation in California. If you’ve ever bought grass fed beef in California, that cow probably came from one of their corporation’s ranches. And they have a pig problem. The pigs eat the cow’s food, tear up the soil, and are generally a nuisance. To control that population, they kill around 200-300 pigs annually, and to make it worthwhile, they license that hunting out to Kika Outfitters, our guides for this adventure.

The plan is simple: ride out on horseback and hunt our way to the primitive cowboy camp, stay there, ride around on side-by-sides the next day, then ride back on horses on day 3. Oh did I mention that my horse didn’t like me?

Cruz

That’s harsh. Saying he didn’t like me is maybe a little strong. He was just an asshole, was the problem. We had an ongoing disagreement about the speed he wanted to walk at, how to get up hills, how to go down hills, and at one point on the ride back, whether or not we should fall down a 50 foot canyon.

But I guess as horses go he was okay, since I’m sitting here typing this and not at the bottom of the canyon.

Fast forward a couple of hours later, and Pete had already shot the first hog of the day. We’d dismounted and hiked up the side of a hill to get within 200 yards of the first hog, and lit him up good. It turns out that Pete and I, who had never met before, developed a pretty good talent for double-tapping hogs. Shooters shoot, I guess.

But it was the next hog I shot that caused me heartburn, and so let’s get back to me crawling through the bushes trying to find this hog I shot. I’m on my hands and knees and can’t really access my rifle since I’m using my hands to crawl. Not optimal. I hear something rustling in the bushes and have one of those “oh shit moments” as I was trying to get my rifle to my shoulder…only for a jackrabbit to sprint out in front of me.

Yeesh.

After that I resolved to not chase wounded hogs into the bush, and sadly left that one to expire from a 357 Magnum through the chest somewhere in a ditch.
We rode the rest of the way into camp fairly uneventfully and got settled in for the night. Well, everyone else got settled in. I sat out in a chair under the stars, swirling a glass of whisky and looking up. And just…remembering.

Memory

I’m 9 years old, standing on the sand at Morro Rock beach, absolutely mesmerized by the ocean lapping against the shore, watching the small waves roll in and out. I’m sunburnt, tired, and having one of the best days of my life.

I’m 12, shouting and chasing my brothers through the state park’s frisbee golf course as we play speed frisbee golf. In my memory I win.

I’m 14, sitting around a campfire reading a Star Wars novel for the 14th time, ostensibly “watching” my younger brothers while my parents have a much deserved date night.

I’m in my 20s, eating fish tacos in Cayucos with my family as we celebrate my grandfather’s 95th.

One year later I’m in a church pew as hundreds of people gather for his funeral.

I’m 44, staring up at a night sky I’ve stared at so many times, and finally, for the first time in ages, feel a connection to a place I’d loved my whole life.

It’s very dusty and my eyes feel funny, so I finish my drink and go to bed. There’s hunting to be done.

Side by Side

The night before, as we rode into camp, I had said to Ron “if 8 year old me could see the sick shit I get to do now, he’d lose his fucking mind.” I was right, but what I didn’t know was how much more awesome shit we were going to do.

Day 2 was spent roaming around in side by sides. It started with another double tap from Pete and me, nailing a hog 120 yards up a hill. Then rip around on the side by sides, blast hogs, rip around some more, blast more hogs, repeat. I could write 10,000 words about each individual encounter we had, from the hog we spotted eating a dead cow, the hog we chased up and down a hill like an episode of Cops, to missing a running hog with my very last round while going 35 in the side by side. But instead I’ll tell the story of my favorite shot of the whole trip, and once again it’s co-starring Pete.

The Mountain Sow

“Holy shit that’s a big pig,” our guide Sean said as he lowered his binoculars. We were about 400 yards out, and she was laying 3/4ths of the way up a steep slope. We were out in the open, but if we worked our way up and around the hill we could stay out of her line of sight and close the distance. My R95 in 357 had an Aimpoint T2 micro on it, and Pete’s Rossi in 44 Mag was sporting an Eotech. We weren’t set up for long range, so Sean started walking us in.

I’d been really happy with the R95 in 357 as a hog gun. With the exception of the hog that ran off, everything I’d hit with it since then had decided it didn’t want to be alive any more on the spot. I was using my favorite bullet, the Barnes Expander. In 357, this is pushing a 140 grain solid copper bullet at nearly 1700 feet per second out of a rifle. The problem was that I only had 3 rounds left, and after that all I had were some copper solids I had been able to scrounge up a local gunshop. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have switched to the spare 44. We had loads of ammo for that.

We side-hilled for about a half a mile on treacherous footing. A bad step and you’re rolling down the hill for about 200 feet. It wasn’t steep enough to kill you, but it wouldn’t have felt good either. I was in the middle of a love-hate relationship with my shoes too. I’d abandoned the cowboy boots of the previous day in favor of my Salomon Speed Cross 6 trail running shoes. Traction was 10/10, but one thing I’d forgotten about this part of California is how many little stickers are on the grass. My ankles were getting murdered.

More side-hilling. It’s crazy how exhausting the act of walking with a gun on a hill can be. It’s one of those things that makes you question your physical fitness, but I run all the time and still I was feeling it. Sean stopped us. The pig was 150 yards away, still laying down. Pete and I crept closer, and kneeled in the brush with about 15 yards separating us. We didn’t need to talk. He fired first, then I fired a split second after. The pig folded up, dead on the spot. It had taken us an hour from when we first spotted her to getting into position for the kill shot.

And while that wasn’t our last kill of the day by far, for me it was the most memorable. It was a hunt that we worked for, a shot we had to fight to get into position to make, and then a complex bit of marksmanship at the end. That’s hunting to me.

Going Home, Again

Our final day we rode out on horseback again. The guys told us that they were going to take us on a route they didn’t normally take hunters on, because there were some really narrow trails with steep drop offs, and a couple “dicey spots.”

Remember how I said I haven’t rode a horse since I was 8?

Truthfully, it was uneventful. The only spot that raised my heart rate was on one of the aforementioned dicey spots, where we stepped over a small stream. On your right was a sheer rock wall, and on your left, a 100 foot straight drop to rocks. Best case if you went over those rocks is a broken leg. Worst case is you get to find out which religion is right about the afterlife. It was at this point where Cruz decided he really wanted to eat some of the thistles that were growing out of the side of the canyon, and tried to stick his big dumb head over the edge to accomplish that. I felt his weight and mine shift towards the canyon’s edge, and I applied a firm but calm correction with the reins. I also might have called him every curse word I know in English and Spanish.

But really, the memory of the ride is similar to my memories from childhood. Instead of playing hide and seek in the state park with my brothers, I’m riding through these beautiful hills with my friends. It took me back to a place of peace and happiness, and reminded me of a much simpler time in my life.

California

A lot of people who grew up in California and left have complicated relationships with our home state. For the longest time, I didn’t even tell people I was from there. When you work in the firearms industry, you get tired of hearing people say “ewww, California,” as they judge an entire state’s population by the gun laws forced down our throats by LA and Sacramento. Or they view Californians as some kind of contagion, that spreads from its home base and ruins everything it touches. After a while, you get tired of saying “no but I’m one of the good ones,” and for me, you internalize a little bit of the scorn for the state.

Riding through the hills, laughing and joking with my friends, I remembered the California of my childhood. The California I loved, that I was proud to be from. The California that’s full of good, decent people who love America. From the gun shop owners in San Luis Obispo, to our guides Jake and Sean, and even the United Airlines gate agent that checked me in, I was reminded that I had been guilty of judging an entire state by a sample of its population.

So here at the end, I’m sorry. I’m sorry to Californian gun owners for telling you “just move.” You guys are absolute legends, battling every day against the very infringements and un-Constitutional laws that make your state more difficult to be a gun owner in than it is in South Africa. But you’re there, and you’re fighting the good fight.

Most importantly, I’m sorry to my home state for treating you so poorly in memory for all these years. You are beautiful, and still as full of adventure as you were when I was young.

But what has especially lit the internet up are the armed citizen’s choice of defensive tools. He used an FN 57 with a suppressor, and engaged the shooter at some distance. Jordan Salinas is a hero, make no mistake about that. But because the internet is the internet, people are choosing to focus their conversation on the tools he used, instead of the most important thing: the will to fight.

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But what matters to me even more than a letter on a screen is my ability to perform, and that’s where classification and USPSA classifiers come in very handy. After writing that post I thought “well, how well can I shoot,” and “can I shoot at the same level as a Grandmaster, the highest level of USPSA shooter?”

I am not a Grandmaster

I do want to be very clear about one thing: I am not a USPSA Grandmaster. I am A-class in Limited-10, but haven’t competed in USPSA with any kind of frequency in the last 10 years. In fact, if you look at my Practiscore history which goes back to 2018, of the 54 matches in there, only 12 of them are USPSA, which is an average of 1.33 USPSA matches per year over the last 9 years. So it’s safe to say that I don’t really shoot USPSA.

I am however a Master class shooter in IDPA, which is a broad bucket of shooter skills, and a Master class shooter in ICORE, which is a tighter bucket of shooter skills, and I’ve been training hard over the past few years for IDPA revolver. So I said to myself, “self, hey let’s pick a classifier that’s easy to set up and see if we can’t get a GM level run in USPSA revolver using my Taurus 608 Competition.”

The Gun

The Taurus 608 Competition isn’t one of the better known guns in the catalog and it’s not one of the best sellers, because it’s an extremely niche product. I’m proud of of it though, because I had direct design input on the gun. It’s an 8-shot 357 Magnum/38 Special that’s cut for moon clips, has good iron sights, and an adjustable trigger so you can make it heavier or lighter depending on what you want to do with the gun. I have my trigger set to just about 8.5 lbs in double action, and can run the gun down to 0.21 splits when I’m really on the trigger. The 608 Competition is accurate, and has minimal recoil even with 357 Magnum loads, not that I’ve fired a lot of those. I mostly feed it the excellent Federal 130gr FMJ, which is also the round I used for this challenge.

The Challenge

El Presidente is a 12 shot course of fire. Start 10 yards from the targets, facing away. On the beep turn and draw, shoot each target 2x, reload, then shoot each target 2x again. The targets are placed at equal height and 1 yard apart shoulder to shoulder. I used PCSL targets instead of USPSA targets, which actually makes the test even harder, as the PCSL target has a smaller A-zone than a USPSA target.

I absolutely ate shit on my first run. I had done a couple of warmups drills, then did my first run at El Pres and it was awful. Got my head together, taped up the targets, reset and went again, and that was the run I turned in on video. 7.75, which gives me a 7.483 hit factor, which is about 102% of the high hit factor.

Now, this is all well and good, but you’re probably asking what the point is, and that’s a fair question. Did this motivate me to go start shooting USPSA matches again? No. I don’t really have the time, given the demands of everything that I already have going on my life. For me, the point was to answer a question: do I have this level of skill applied to this specific drill? I sure do. It doesn’t mean I’m as good as a GM, or even could classify as a GM, all it means is that on that day, I was able to shoot to a GM standard, and that made me feel good. That was the point.

I suppose I could say something about how the “real point” is to use USPSA classifiers as ways to check your skill and validate your training and that would be an excellent point and something you should totally do. In fact, I encourage people, even those who aren’t USPSA shooters to go to the USPSA website and get classifiers off the website and set them up and shoot them. It’s a great way to practice.

For me, it was nice to validate that all the practice and training I’ve put in for sports that aren’t USPSA does in fact transfer over. And plus, I got a pretty cool video out of it.

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Dragging through the grass next to me was my Rossi R95 in 45-70.

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Two days before I found myself crawling through tick infested grass, I had used my Rossi R95 45-70 to crush a the really nice trophy blesbok you see above. But even that’s getting ahead of myself, because this rifle’s review actually starts in 2025, when I was cooling my heels in an “Undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.” That’s what the USAF refers to deployed locations as despite the fact that it’s pretty easy to figure out which base is which, especially when PA is posting photos of the flight line, but whatever, that’s a different rant.

Anyway, I’m stuck in the Middle East and I’m thinking about hunting. I had gone to Africa in 2024 and knew that I had a return trip in the works. But I hadn’t really been in love with the rifle I took. Yes, the Taurus Expedition in 308 is a great rifle, but after shooting a zebra and chasing it for what felt like forever, I wanted a projectile that would hammer things right where they stood. Read about my zebra chase here:

Anyway, I settled on a 45-70 lever gun, because my boss had recently taken one to Africa had killed a Cape buffalo with it, along with some other species. Once I got back to the States I ordered the Rossi R95 45-70 stainless laminate model. I went with stainless laminate because that stainless finish is great for resisting environmental wear, and also because it looks rad as hell. I’m a big fan of having guns with good aesthetics.

R95 45-70 by the Numbers

Here’s the nitty-gritty on the rifle:

• Weight: 6.8 lbs unloaded

• Barrel length: 18 inches

• Barrel material: cold hammer-forged stainless steel

• Capacity: 5 rounds

• Rear sight: windage and elevation adjustable peep sight

• Front sight: brass bead

• Trigger pull: 3 lbs

The Rossi also comes from the factory with a large loop lever that has a nice paracord wrap on it, a 3/4ths length picatinny rail, and lastly a very nice recoil pad that definitely helps eat up some of that 45-70 recoil.

My initial plan was to use it on a North Carolina bear hunt in December of 2025, which I suppose I technically did, even though I sat in a blind and stared at the same spot in the woods for five days and didn’t see a single bear. That’s hunting I suppose.

Prior to the hunt I set the rifle up with an Aimpoint Micro T2 and zeroed it with Hornady 410gr subsonic ammo. The Hornady rounds were making an average 950 FPS out of the rifle, and at 50 yards shot a 1.95 inch group. Not the best group I’ve ever shot, but given the crazy SD on the Hornady subs I was perfectly happy with it. I really like these rounds because they basically have no recoil, but unfortunately they also have the exterior ballistics of a rainbow. Seriously, with a 50 yard zero the round is 8 inches low at 100 yards, and 27 inches low at 150 yards. If you switch it up and zero at 75 yards which is what I did, you’re about an inch and a half high at 50, 4 inches low at 100, and 21 inches low at 150. To me, that makes this a 100 yard and in cartridge, which was fine for the bear hunt.

Of course, I didn’t see any bears, so I never got to find out how well that ammo would do on them.

Messing with Optics

In between my busted bear hunt and taking the rifle to Africa, I messed around a bunch with the optics I had on the gun. I briefly removed the Aimpoint and installed a Burris Scout scope on it, which had nothing to do with me watching Wind River the night before I made that installation. I also removed the iron sights entirely. I discovered that when using a weapon mounted light, the light would bounce back off the front iron in low light and completely obscure the target.

The Burris gave me the magnification I needed to actually shoot groups with the rifle, and it really came alive. I only shot three more brands of ammo because 45-70 is quite expensive. We already know how the subsonic ammo shot, so here’s a quick breakdown on the rest.

• Zero distance: 100 yards

• Hornady LEVERevolution 325gr Flex Tip: average 5 shot group size was 1.88 inches at 100 yards with a very consistent MV average 1957. Getting sub 2 MOA out of a lever gun is really good with any ammo.

• Federal Hammerdown 300gr JSP: average 5 shot group was 2.33 inches. Just a hair above 2 MOA, but still really accurate. This load fed extremely well and had a muzzle velocity that was nearly identical to what’s printed on the box.

• Barnes 300gr TSX: This was the least accurate, coming in with an average group size of 3.2 inches. It also had what I felt like was the least pleasant recoil, a sharp snap on the shoulder instead of the shove I got with the Federal and Hornady. It’s a shame because I love Barnes bullets and wanted to take this to Africa.

Ultimate, I selected the Federal Hammerdown load based on its accuracy, recoil impulse, and consistent feeding.

Oh, and I switched optic setups again. I found with the long-eye relief scope I’d get my head down and spend just a tick of a second hunting for the right eye relief, which isn’t something I wanted to do when I was hunting. I swapped the Aimpoint back on, and this time added a 3x magnifier for if I needed to push the gun to its max range. With the 3x magnifier I felt comfortable making shots out to 200 yards assuming I had good clear shooting lanes.

Back to Africa

So there I was, crawling through the grass after spending 9 hours the previous day not seeing the hartebeest once. Day 2 we had caught a glimpse of him and then he vanished into thick brush. Every time we’d get close, he spook and run off deeper into the brush. After a couple of hours of playing hide and seek, we were finally in a good position to move in. Unfortunately, this was the crawling part.

I felt deep sympathy for my PH during the initial 80 yard crawl. I was wearing 5.11 Coalition pants, ankle high boots, and most critically gloves. He was wearing the standard issue PH shorts and no gloves, and I could see the grass and thorns were doing a number on him, not to mention the ticks.

We slowly stood up and Tiaan (my PH) got me on the hartebeest. I could see the tops of his horns reflecting the sunlight at us, and could clearly see his beady little eyes through the 3x magnifier. I ranged him - 150 yards. I could make the shot but I didn’t have a clean lane. He was standing behind a tree quartering towards us, with the trunk obscuring the target area between his shoulder and chest. Back to crawling. We closed in another 30 yards, setting up between two trees. I had a clear shot.

I pushed the manual safety off. One of the features I like about the R95 is the crossbolt manual safety. When I’m actively stalking on foot, I’ll have a round in the chamber, hammer back, but safety on. To fire I just click the safety off and send it.

The rifle’s report seemed muffled to me, despite not wearing hearing protection. I felt the recoil push, then ran the lever chambering another round as the hartebeest crumpled. We closed the remaining 120 yards quickly, keeping the gun up. Red hartebeest aren’t known to be dangerous, but I’m also not taking chances with a potential wounded animal that’s sporting giant horns.

He was down. The first shot had gone into the gap, hitting the heart and traveling down the left side of his body. The skinners eventually recovered the bullet from the gut pile. It had penetrated nearly three feet and mushroomed perfectly.

I put an insurance round into him to ease his passage into the afterlife. I’m a huge believer in not letting these animals suffer unduly, so even if the initial shot would be fatal, if we can speed that process along I will 100% of the time. I may joke that 45-70 is expensive, but in the grand scheme of things, bullets are cheap.

Back in America

As I sit at my desk in South Carolina writing this, thinking back on my experience over the last year with the R95 in 45-70 and of course in Africa, I’m completely enamored with this rifle. The appearance is a great starting point, because it’s just nice to look at. But the performance is what really gets it for me. Everything I shot with that 300gr Hammerdown bullet died right there on the spot with no drama.

It really is the perfect brush-buster rifle. The Aimpoint T2 plus 3x magnifier was awesome for all the shots I encountered on this specific trip to Africa, however with that being said, I do think that if I switched over to an LPVO I’d be able to squeeze another 100-150 yards out of the gun. A 150 yard zero with that Hammerdown load gives me 5 inches of drop at 200 yards and puts me 2 inches high at 50. A little 1-6x that I could dial for elevation would make this a 300 yard gun all day long.

Bottom line? I love this rifle. Is that because I’ve hunted Africa with it? Partially. Is it also because it’s a straightforward no-frills killing rifle that you can get for right around a grand? That too. If you’re looking to get into the 45-70 game (and you should) then you should check out the Rossi R95.

This matters because in USPSA you need to make what’s called “minor” power factor if you’re shooting an 8 shot revolver. That’s 125. In CMP Action Pistol and ICORE, you need to make 120, and in IDPA Revolver if you’re shooting a speed loader gun it’s 105. This can present a problem because not all factory ammo makes those power factors.

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The Ammo Used

Now, if I didn’t test fire your favorite off the shelf load, I’m sorry. I test fired a repressive sample of what I consider to be high quality ammo that’s easily commercially available and would be rounds I’d consider for competition. The test platform for these was my USPSA revolver, a Taurus USA 608 Competition in 357 Magnum using moonclips.

Test protocol was simple. Fire 5 shots for record over my Garmin chronograph.

1. American Quality Ammunition 158gr FMJ - I knew absolutely nothing about this brand, I had never heard of it before it popped up on Lucky Gunner. Because I’m always looking for ammo that makes PF, I ordered 250 rounds. 5 test rounds had an average muzzle velocity of about 879 FPS, which gives us a power factor of 139. That easily makes minor and is good to go for every shooting sport. Their stated velocity on the box is 850 fps.

2. Federal American Eagle 158gr LRN - This has been my primary ammo for IDPA for ages. It’s accurate and consistent, with the only real drawback being how dirty/smokey it is when you shoot it. Fouling and leading is a problem here. It had an average velocity of 789.8 FPS, for a power factor of 124.8. That’s no-go for USPSA, but good for everything else. The stated velocity on the box is 770 FPS.

3. PMC 132gr FMJ - I’ll be brief on this, I really wanted this be a viable option for lightweight FMJ, but the power factor on this was 118.8, which means it would only be good for IDPA, and in my opinion the Federal 130gr FMJ is a lot more consistent.

4. Hornady Critical Defense 110gr +P - Fun fact, this load nearly perfectly duplicates the old “Treasury Load,” pushing a 110gr bullet to nearly 1100 FPS. Our average velocity here was 1083, giving us a power factor of 119.14. That would only be good for IDPA, and at over a buck a round I don’t think I’d want to spend that money. That being said, it is crazy accurate, and has very minimal felt recoil.

5. Hornady Custom 158rd XTP/JHP - I really wanted this to make minor PF for USPSA. The XTP is a fantastic bullet for competition shooting due to its inherent accuracy. Unfortunately, I was only able to get an average MV of 776.6 out of this, for a PF of 122.7. That would make it acceptable for ICORE and Bianchi Cup.

6. Remington Performance Wheelgun 158gr LRN - I really like this stuff. I’ve shot a ton of it and it shoots great. It’s like a cleaner version of the Federal 158gr LRN but with a better bullet profile for speed loading. The box says these are making 755 FPS, and out of my six inch test gun I got an average velocity of 790 FPS, which is better than the box. Final PF is 124.9, which isn’t good for USPSA but gets you there for IDPA, ICORE, and Bianchi Cup.

7. Federal American Eagle 130gr FMJ - This is my go-to for FMJ practice ammo. Fun fact about this load, it is nearly identical in terms of pressure and ballistics to the old USAF duty load. My average velocity was 863, for a PF of 112.2. This would be an IDPA/Practice only load based on that, but it reloads super fast thanks to the bullet profile.

8. Federal 158gr +P LSWCHP - This is Federal’s current production version of the FBI load. To be clear, not a gaming load, but a personal defense load. This easily cleared power factor, coming in at 149.2, which means the average muzzle velocity was around 940 FPS. I have and do carry this load in 4 inch service sized revolvers, but for games it’s a little too punchy.

Caleb’s Choices

Alright, so here’s what I’d pick for each game. I do want to note as well that ICORE has an “approved ammo” list, where so long as you’re shooting ammo that’s on their list, you don’t need to meet power factor. I’m working with CMP to get one of those for their revolvers as well.

IDPA: My choice would be the Federal American Eagle 130gr FMJ. Since the IDPA PF for speed loader fed guns is 105, this load still clears that by a handy margin, and again as I’ve noted tends to be very fast into the gun thanks to its bullet profile. This of course assumes that my gun either has adjustable sights or hits to the sights with this load.

USPSA: Of the loads on this list the only one that’s actually viable is the American Quality Ammo load, coming in a 139 PF. The problem is that I have trust issues with small manufacturers and their ability to turn out a consist product. I’d actually be more likely to run the Remington Performance WheelGun 158gr LRN, and just sort of pray that when I get to chrono that I get a couple of bullets at 795 FPS and squeak across the line that way.

ICORE: Remington Performance WheelGun all the way.

Action Pistol/Bianchi Cup: Again, of the loads on this list I’d probably go with the Hornady XTP 158gr, just because of how accurate the XTP bullet can be. Plus, I prefer a jacketed bullet for Bianchi Cup, since shooting through a cloud of lead dust and smoke makes things a bit more difficult.

Steel Challenge: do whatever you want, there’s no PF in Steel Challenge. I run 148gr wadcutters because they have no recoil.

Now as we close this article I’m sure you’re thinking “why not just handload” and you’re 100% right. That would be a guaranteed way to make sure all my ammo makes power factor, and that’s what a lot of serious revo shooters do. That’s not who this list is for. This list is for people who want to compete with a revolver but don’t have the time to invest in hand loading.

Or, I suppose I could just sack up and shoot 357 Magnum.

“Gee, thanks,” I said as I rolled into the SF building on Dobbins ARB. It was Saturday morning at 0600 and one of my squad leaders was offering me the customary greeting of friendship. To be fair, he was right. I realized that at that moment, from May 1st to June 6th, a period of 35 days, I had been home for 9 of them. What a month I’d had.

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Salt Lake City

“Good morning,” the Delta check-in agent greeted me warmly at my little regional airpot. I had checked in with her before, but she displayed no signs of recognizing me, right up until I opened the Magpul gun case to throw the declaration card inside it.

“Oh, I remember you! You’re always flying somewhere with guns, what do you do for a living?”

Whenever I get this question I’m presented with a fork in the road. All of my answers are technically true, but the level of “truth” I want to tell depends entirely on the vibes that the check in agent is giving me. That’s why whenever I fly for my civilian job, I still use my military ID to check in. It just relaxes people. Today, I got the sense that telling the Delta agent I worked in the gun industry and was about to spend three weeks on the road teaching and shooting wasn’t the right answer.

“I’m in the military,” I said, motioning to the CAC she was holding. That answer seemed to be the right one, so we locked up the case and dropped it off at TSA. Somehow the TSA managed to dump it upside down when they were checking it, but the DAKA case is pretty awesome and held things together.

Everything else on this leg of the trip was pretty routine - we had a Taurus demo day, I taught a revolver class, hung out with my friend Sofia from SheShield, found out that Mormons love ice cream, but otherwise this was the simple one. The funniest thing about this trip was the absolute rage one of my colleagues had about the miserable shitbox of a rental car we got saddled with. The Jeep Compass really is a hateful little thing.

SLC → KCMO

“God, what a nice airport experience that was.” I had just gotten through security at the SLC airport and it was just…nice. Everyone was so polite, even the TSA people were super chill. When compared to other Delta hubs like Atlanta, SLC is just one of the raddest places you can depart from.

Kansas City on the air hand…

“Hey, hi, I’m Caleb Giddings,” I say as I hand the Delta luggage assistance rep my DOD LE ID card. “I had a weapons case on that flight from SLC, I’m just trying to figure out where it is. The app isn’t updating, but here’s my luggage tag.”

I have never seen someone look more exasperated at having to do their job than this woman was. Like, imagine the speed of the sloth from Zootopia coupled with the attitude of a 15 year old girl who was just told to clean her room. She finally managed to type the number into her computer, and after what seemed like three more years, she said “oh, it’s here. They must have got it off the plane first because it says unloaded but they haven’t brought it to the office yet.”

Mollified by that answer, I stood at the desk, content to wait. At which point the luggage clerk says “is that all? You can’t wait for your bag in here.” At this point I decided to take the path of least resistance and stepped back out of the office to wait for my bag. Sure enough, about five minutes later here comes a porter dragging my big-ass Mapgul case behind him. I go to intercept him, right? Because I really don’t want to have to deal with Shelob the Sloth again, but he says sorry and that he has to hand it over to the baggage lady, rules are rules. I get it, I really do.

So back into the office I go while Shelob verifies my ID again and then proceeds to engage in Delta’s most performative act of security, which is to put zip ties around my case. The reason they do this is because back in 2017, a dude got into his case at baggage claim on FT Lauderdale airport and shot the place up. He had happened to be flying Delta, so Delta put this policy in place, right?

Now, normally, I wait until I’m out of eyesight of the baggage people before I use the trauma shears in my carry on to cut the zip ties off. Remember, the zip ties are just a Delta policy, not a federal law, so they can’t really do anything about it. But I have a rule about not being a dick to people who don’t deserve it, so as I said, normally I’ll get my bag, get out of eyesight by a trash can and cut them off there. On that day? As soon as she had finished zip-tying the case, I pulled my shears out of my back pocket where I’d staged them, and before the Sloth could do anything snipped both zip ties off and handed them back to her. “Can you throw these away for me please? I’d hate to litter.” Then retreated from the office and headed to get my rental car.

KCMO → Home

Bianchi Cup and the Flagler Cup completed, all I had to do was get home. If you want to read about my experience at Bianchi Cup, you can read about it at the embedded post below. If you’re not a paid sub, it will cost less than a cup of Starbucks coffee.

But anyway, I’m back at the KCMO airport. Getting there was a huge pain in the ass, because part of the freeway was closed and my stupid ass decided to leave from Columbia instead of driving to KC the night before. Whatever, I was finally there, and standing in line in front of me at the check-in counter for Delta first class was a woman who was clearly experiencing her first day on earth. She had approximately 37 plastic shopping bags full of crap, that she was frantically trying to consolidate into the approved amount of luggage. Now again, mind you she’s not doing this away from the line, oh no she’s in the check-in line holding everyone up because she’s never heard about luggage rules.

Thankfully, the extremely friendly Delta gate agent waved me and my enormous obvious gun case past the other lady. “thank god” I thought to myself as I eased up to the counter. “Good morning,” I said with a smile, handing over my CAC. This process goes smoothly right until I open my gun case to slide the declaration in.

“Hold on honey,” she says. “I just need to count how many guns you have.”

Insert my bewildered face here, because no one’s ever said that to me before.

“You’ve got too many guns, you can only have five in one case,” says the agent. Now, I had never heard that rule before, but she was right. I checked Delta’s website and it’s buried, but it is in fact true that you can’t have more than 5 handguns in a single weapons case. I didn’t know that at the time, but I also judged that arguing with this woman wasn’t going to get me anywhere. She was polite, but she was professional.

“Ma’am, I am so sorry, I had no idea that was the policy.” I made my face look as contrite as possible and hoped that it was playing well. “I’ve checked this exact luggage case at two different airports on this trip and no one said anything, and I’d really like to get home. I won’t let this happen again.”

A pregnant pause. Whether or not I made this flight was entirely in this woman’s hands.

“Well, honey I guess since you’re military I can let it slide this time! You have a nice day now.”

I tried to not breathe an obvious sigh of relief. Shout out to the power of the CAC to get me out of sticky situations.

I did make it home, and two days later hopped on a plane to New Orleans for a quick one day trip. I’d like to say that trip was completely uneventful, but I’d be lying if I did. You’ll just have to stick around for Part 2 to catch that one.

con’t

As I was performing this entirely pointless mathematical exercise, I got to thinking about classifications in general, and how much they actually matter. In fact, does your shooting sports classification matter at all?

Stating the Obvious

Right off the bat, I’ll say this: if you care about USPSA as a sport and getting better at USPSA, then your classification is obviously going to matter. Sure, there are guys who say “I don’t care about my classification I only care about the journey of getting better at shooting,” but I’m going to let you in on a secret: those guys are lying. They either deeply hate that they’re stuck in B-class or are deeply smug about making M. But anyway, if you care about USPSA, then of course your classification matters. It’s an objective measure of your skill within the sport.

But what if you don’t care about USPSA as a sport? What if you are one of the many gun owners who was told that shooting matches is a good way to improve your shooting and gun handling skills, even if your primary reason for owning a gun and shooting matches is to enhance your ability to defend yourself? Does your USPSA classification matter then? Hell, does any classification matter?

The Purpose of Classification Systems

All of the handgun sports in the United States use some sort of classification system. Bullseye, CMP Action Pistol, Steel Challenge, ICORE, USPSA, IDPA, and I think even PCSL has one now. The point of a classification system is two-fold: it provides the organization a way to stratify their competitor’s skill sets, and it encourages further competitor participation in a sport where mid-level shooters compete alongside the best in the world.

The shooting sports in the USA are unique in that regard. You wouldn’t see a JuCo track athlete going head to head with a D1 superstar in the same meet, the same way you wouldn’t see a high school golfer playing in a PGA tournament with the pros. But you do in the shooting sports version of that. Every weekend at matches across the country, and even more so at the various state, regional, and national championships.

One of the advantages to classification systems is that it encourages people who know they’re never going to win a National Championship to come out to the these major events. I’ve seen real impressive battles over High Expert or Top A class at various matches, and if that’s what gets you out of bed to come and shoot, that’s awesome. For other people, the simple act of chasing a classification becomes their goal in the sport, and that’s awesome too.

Classifications are also useful to people outside of the sport because they’re a handy benchmark of your shooting skill. I know that an A-class USPSA shooter is objectively better at the sport of USPSA than a C-class USPSA shooter.

“At the Sport Of”

That part in italics from the previous paragraph is important, because it’s important to remember that all of these sport’s classification systems ultimately measure the shooting (and in some cases non-shooting skills) that the sport measures. So someone could be a C-class USPSA shooter because they’ve not made it their focus, but is a national championship bullseye shooter. Is that guy an objectively worse shooter than a USPSA A-class shooter? No. Is he worse at USPSA? Yes. That’s an important distinction to remember, and especially important if you’re using the shooting sports as a vehicle to improve your defensive firearms skills.

If you’re into the shooting sports to pursue excellence in the shooting sports, that’s awesome. If you’re into the shooting sports because you carry a gun every day and you want to be better with your carry gun, that’s also awesome. However, if you’re the latter, you need to understand that there will come a point where the time investment in getting better at the shooting sports will begin to consume more time than you see gains in real world skill.

I’ll give you a mathematical example of what I mean by this. Take the USPSA classifier 6 Chickens, 03-02. If you shoot all A-zone hits in 10 seconds, you’ll turn in an A-class time. If you shoot that exact same course of fire with all A-zone hits 1.15 seconds faster, you’ll turn in a Grand Master time. This matters because every single credible expert agrees that an A-class USPSA shooter has all the tools they need to solve basically any defensive firearms encounter ever. In fact, in a conversation I had with a close friend from the special operations community, he commented that your elite operators aren’t even A-class, they’re usually B-class level shooters, the difference is that they have to be B-class in shooting, hand to hand fighting, swimming, jumping out of airplanes, radios, etc.

Anyway, back to the point. The point is that if you’re solely engaged in the shooting sports to make yourself better with your personal protection firearms, the amount of time and effort you’d need to invest to find that extra 1.15 second is going to enter the territory of diminishing returns. I know, because I did it. When I was really serious about USPSA, I was shooting a match every single weekend of the month, sometimes two per weekend. I’d shoot 4-6 matches per month, plus be at the range twice a week to train individual skills. I got within 3% of making M in USPSA, and when I look back on it, my life basically revolved around getting better at shooting (I’m sure people are wondering why I never finished that quest, but that’s a story for a different time). Then, during COVID, I got the itch again and spent about 6 months dry firing and range training like a maniac until I made M in ICORE’s Classic division, which is one of, if not the most difficult shooting accomplishment of mine. Because I’m married with a child, the quest for ICORE M ate up all my “personal” time, so I wasn’t really doing anything fun in my free time.

Perspective and Balance

Which brings us all the way back to the original question. Does your classification matter? As it turns out, the only person that can answer that question is you. If it matters to you, then it really matters. If it doesn’t matter, fantastic!

My two pieces of advice are this. 1) don’t lie to yourself. Don’t say that your classification doesn’t matter to you when in reality you just hate that you can’t break out of whatever class you’re stuck in. Be honest with yourself. 2) is related - prioritize your training time. If you’re training to be good at the shooting sports, train for that. If you’re training to defend your life, once you reach USPSA B-class/IDPA Expert class, you have pretty much all the gun skills you could possibly need. Make sure you maintain your skills, but take some time to work on other weak spots. Combatives, verbal judo, physical fitness (seriously your physical fitness), driving skills, etc. If you can get all of those up to B-class, you would be an absolute MENACE to any threat.

But most importantly, and I cannot say this enough: do whatever makes you happy.

I’ve always felt that if you can’t explain something in a way that an 8 year old could understand it, you don’t actually understand it either. And it turns out, shooting, in fact all types of shooting are driven by exactly three things.

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First off, most guns these days are pretty good. If you’ve got $250 bucks and need a gun, go get a Taurus GX2 TORO, because it’s going to work. It’s also pretty nice to shoot for a sub-compact, but that’s not the point.

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Well then, what is the point?

I’m so glad you asked. The point is that since most guns are pretty good, all of the arguing about this gun vs that gun is basically angels dancing on the head of a pin. Unless you’re interested in serious performance shooting, you’re not going to see any measurable skill gains based on whatever platform you choose, with the exception that adding a red dot is like buying skill, so you should do that.

Take me and revolvers for instance. I love revolvers, and more importantly I like shooting them, far more than I like shooting semi-automatic handguns. I can’t remember the last time I shot a polymer-framed striker fired auto and thought “wow this is a super fun experience” because those guns don’t do anything for me. But revolvers? Revolvers do something for me. So do 1911s, but only in 45 ACP, and 2011s don’t interest me at all.

But the point of that is because I like revolvers and enjoy shooting them, I’m far more likely to get out to the range and actually practice with a revolver than I am a “better” carry gun. That is the point. If you like a gun and like shooting it, you’re more likely to train with it, so even if it’s not the “best” carry gun option, maybe use that (or one very similar) as your carry gun, because you’re going to develop a higher level of skill with it than a gun you don’t enjoy shooting.

What does matter?

Briefly, here’s a list of some things that matter more towards your ability to defend yourself than the particular make, model, and caliber of gun you carry:

• Your overall physical fitness

• Your driving skills

• Your verbal judo/managing unknown contacts skills

That’s just three that I could think of off the top of my head. Taking care of your body is part of the whole-person concept of self-defense, right? I’m not just defending my life against potential physical violence, I’m defending it from heart disease and other things. Driving is pretty important too! Think about all the time we spend in cars. I have used the skills I learned in the various driving courses I’ve taken basically every single day, because I drive a car basically every single day. I have not used my carry gun at all since I moved to South Carolina.

The point I’m getting at is don’t get wrapped around the axle of what kind of gun you’re carrying. Just get one you like, that you enjoy shooting, take a class, and train with it. Remember, we’re carrying guns to enhance our lives, not to be a slave to all this gear we’re supposed to carry.

I could probably just end this article there and call it good, that’s my summary of Bianchi Cup. I had some good moments, one incredibly frustrating moment, and like I do every year I learned something new about shooting my gun at a high level. I also, like every year before this, swore that next year I’ll have a gun that’s optimal for the match and I’ll spend loads of time practicing.

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So, spoiler alert, yes Bianchi Cup still matters. In fact, in this era of instant gratification, 30-second short form videos, and brutally shortened attention spans, it matters more than ever.

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All Shooting Sports Measure the Same Things

From a skill development perspective, or a performance based shooting perspective, Bianchi Cup and the larger sport of Action Pistol are still quite relevant. I’m going to tell you a little secret: all handgun shooting sports are scored by measuring a balance of speed and accuracy. Some are more biased towards the value of speed, some are more biased towards accuracy, but ultimately every handgun shooting sport’s scoring system comes down to measure of a balance of speed and accuracy.

In measuring that balance of speed and accuracy, the “speed” component can also include measuring non-shooting actions such as movement from position to position and reloads. USPSA, IDPA, and ICORE’s use of time requires someone to care about those skills if they want to be competitive at the highest level. As a side note, they also weigh those skills differently. Your movement skills are more important in USPSA than they are in IDPA, as IDPA has a harsher penalty for poor accuracy than USPSA.

Action Pistol, which is the name of the sport that Bianchi Cup is a part of, also measures a balance of speed and accuracy. To avoid confusion, when I’m talking about the specific sport of Action Pistol I’ll capitalize it, when I’m referring to the action pistol or action shooting sports at large, I’ll keep it lower case. Anyway, back to the important stuff. As I said, Action Pistol (or AP for short) also measures a balance of speed and accuracy, but instead of using a timer that records your time, it uses par times. That means each string of fire has a specific time limit in which you have to accomplish the shooting task.

The result of this is that AP weighs accuracy heavier than USPSA, which has the lowest accuracy penalties, and even heavier than IDPA’s fairly harsh penalties.

But why would that matter for the average gun owner? The answer to that is because in the real world, accuracy matters a lot. I can go on google for 0.43 seconds and find countless videos of cops mag dumping at suspects who are within 10 yards and going 4/17 on hits. I can find articles about innocent bystanders getting hit by stray rounds fired by cops. Your responsibility as an armed citizen is to be able to place shots accurately into whatever threat you’re facing without sending errant rounds into the world. To do that you need to be able to fire with discipline and with accuracy.

It’s also worth nothing that because movement and on the clock reloads are not a component in Bianchi Cup, it is the only action shooting discipline that only tests your shooting skill as the key component. Draw from the holster, get your sights on target, and press the trigger.

You Should Train Everything

I didn’t start shooting AP until after I had been shooting IDPA and USPSA for some time. I found AP challenging because it forced me to be extremely accountable for my sight picture and trigger press in a way that USPSA and IDPA never did. I could certainly shoot fast and accurately at your typical USPSA stage, but the difficulty of the shots in AP forced me to have real visual discipline that I was lacking. That was awesome, and has continued to be a benefit to me as a shooter both in the private sector and in my military career.

Now, to be clear I’m not saying you should give up USPSA or IDPA or whatever it is you like to shoot and dedicate yourself to AP. That’s difficult, because AP matches are few and far between. But I am saying that it’s worth it to experience a completely different challenge for your skillset, and that avoiding specialization is a good thing. After all, specialization is for insects.

Bianchi Cup Specifically Matters

But, to the match itself, Bianchi Cup still matters, and you should sign up to shoot it in 2027. Why? Because history is important. It’s the only continuously running match that’s held in the same location it was founded in, and it provides a really good metric to measure yourself against some of the best shooters you’ve never heard of. You haven’t heard of them because they’re not on instagram posted sub-second draws or crowing about their classification, they’re just quietly putting on some of the most impressive shooting performances you’ll ever see.

“Oh, but Caleb I don’t want to build a multi-thousand dollar race gun” okay don’t. I’ve shot basically stock guns my entire career at the Cup and it’s been an incredible experience. I shot my PR on the Practical with a stock Colt 1911, my PR on the Mover with a Beretta PX4, and just yesterday my PR on the Barricades with a Taurus 692 Executive Grade. Show up with your existing gear and shoot the match.

History is important, and there is a rich tradition and history that’s lurking beneath the surface of the current Bianchi Cup. It’s easy to dismiss things like that in this age, because “history” seems so far removed from us. But we forget that at our own peril. The shooting sports community shouldn’t lose sports, we should preserve and encourage them. Even if I stopped shooting Action Pistol next year, I wouldn’t want to live in a world where the Bianchi Cup ceased to exist.

It’s range time with the all new Taurus USA RPC. This is a roller-delayed blowback PDW (personal defense weapon) that was originally designed for military and LE contracts in Brazil and on the international scene. It’s now available in the USA from Taurus and let me tell you something: it’s awesome.

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I’m back! I was out for a little while working my other job in the USAFR, which makes it a little difficult to balance that, working for Taurus, and updating my substack on the reg. But I’m back, now and I wanted to revisit a topic that I’ve covered in the past on my Youtube channel, and that’s looking for the most efficient way to reload a concealed carry revolver.

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Are you really going to reload a wheelgun in a fight?

Here’s the thing. Getting in a defensive gun use (DGU) where you actually press the trigger on your gun, any gun, is such a rare incident that it’s basically a lightning strike. So by and large, we’re not actually concerned with how fast we’re getting the gun back into the fight, right? If you’re in a self-defense situation and you’ve fired the 5-7 shots most defensive revolvers typically carry and you still need to shoot more, you’re in such a statistically unlikely situation that you’re going to have a wikipedia article written about it.

But that doesn’t mean that getting the gun reloaded quickly and efficiently isn’t something we should concern ourselves with. A far more likely scenario than needing to reload in the middle of the fight is that you’ve just been in a DGU and you want to top your gun off so you’re not standing in a gas station parking lot waiting for the cops to show up with a half-empty or completely empty gun.

The Fastest Revolver Reload

Of course, the fastest way to reload your defensive revolver is a classic technique: The New York Reload.

The NY reload of course is the practice of carrying a second gun to back up your first revolver, and was quite common among LE back when snub-nosed revolvers ruled the roost. Of course, it’s not always practical, as carrying a second gun ads additional concerns about concealment, weight, and various trade offs. For example, what could I be carrying instead of a second gun? Less than lethal, a powerful flashlight, etc.

All that being said, it is still the fastest way to bring a loaded gun back to the ready.

Speed Loaders

Speed loaders are without a doubt the second fastest way to bring a loaded gun back online. I prefer the Safariland Comp-I and Comp-II for concealed carry, but the big drawback to those is that they’re only available for certain guns. If you have an unusual caliber/configuration on your carry gun, like a 6 shot 32 Magnum for example, you’re going to have to get a different loader. In that case I’d recommend something like HKS.

The big drawback to a speed loader is it requires you to dump the entire cylinder to do a reload. That means that unless you’ve shot the gun dry, you’re going to need to engage in some kind of ammo management with your live rounds vs spent brass. My recommendation? Just dump everything on the ground and load the gun with six. 2 or 3 live rounds aren’t worth the time and hassle of managing them.

Speed Strip with NEOMag RASC

This is my preferred method for carrying a reload for a CCW revolver. If I’m running a six shot gun I’ll use an 8 shot Tuff Products Quick Strip and the NEOMag RASC to hold six rounds of ammo. This allows me to load in 2-2-2, getting the gun topped off faster than I would with just a regular speed strip. This also allows me to just top off the gun if I’ve only fired a certain number of rounds, which is nice.

Next on my list would be the Zeta-6 loaders, which allow me to load 3 chambers at a time, but unfortunately aren’t compatible with the NEOMag RASC, which does slow them down and bump them down on my list. After that are just regular speed strips dumped into a pocket, and then finally the slowest reload method: picking loose rounds out.

The Final Round

Interestingly, my choice when I carry a small frame revolver is that I don’t carry a reload at all. My “reload” is a clinch pick, a small fixed blade knife designed for extremely close work. To me, that’s my revolver reload. If there’s a fight to be finished and I’m out of bullets, I’m weighing the risk that I’ve degraded my opponent enough that I can either retreat easily or finish the fight with the knife.

If you do choose to carry a reload for your defensive revolver, I definitely recommend you look into the NEOMag RASC with Tuff Product Quick Strips, or the Zeta-6 loaders. I think those are excellent choices that will serve you well.

It was, as many things around this space often are, tacky and a bit silly, but I could get them from my distributor for like $3 and then sell them for $14.99, so the margins were amazing and I sold a shitload of them.

In that very same store I also sold high quality pepper spray in a little jar by the checkout counter for a similar price as the t-shirt. This was the good stuff too, none of those shitty foams or gels, but a proper stream of eye-searing hate. It will come as no surprise to you that those were absolute sales turds.

As it turns out, the same thought process that made the silly tank top a good seller also made actual, high-quality pepper spray a bad seller.

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Pepper Spray is Deeply Misunderstood

Outside of a small minority of extremely serious self-defense practitioners, pepper spray is wildly misunderstood and mischaracterized, usually out of ignorance but sometimes maliciously. When I say “serious” self-defense people, I’m talking about the sort of people that take ECQC, understand principles of managing unknown contacts, those sorts of people.

To those people, pepper spray is incredibly useful because it provides a level of force, to quote Chuck Haggard, “between harsh words and a gun.” In fact, pepper spray is a lower level of force than punching someone in the face. That should make it incredibly useful to anyone interested in self-defense, because I can promise you that a normal, middle class person will encounter far more scenarios where pepper spray is an appropriate level of force than they will scenarios where they need a gun.

But despite all that, pepper spray often gets a bad rap among more casual self-defense minded folks. Why is that?

Pepper spray gets a bad rap among people I think for three key reasons, although there is more at play. Let’s take a look at those reasons.

Misunderstanding of Tactics

Probably the most common objection I see to pepper spray goes something like this “I/my best friend/uncle was a cop and I/he had to pepper spray dudes and they’d just keep fighting.” This is often true, and is a legitimate criticism of pepper spray from an LE perspective. But to use this as an objection to pepper spray for civilian use displays a key misunderstanding of their use cases.

If a police officer has to pepper spray someone, they’re doing it to gain compliance so they can get that person into handcuffs. They have to close with and go hands on with that person, which carries the risk of cross contamination from the spray. LE often are dealing with people who are…chemically enhanced, and these people often are resistant to friggin’ bullets, much less painful chemicals.

But the thing is, the LE use case for pepper spray is not the civilian use case at all. Craig Douglas refers to pepper spray as “an eye gouge in a can,” which I like quite a lot. If you’ve ever been poked in the eye just in general it’s distracting and disorienting, and if it happens in a fight it’s even worse. The civilian use case for pepper spray is to create time and space for you, the civilian, to escape. We are not pepper spraying people so we can go hands on with them, we’re pepper spraying them so we can run the fuck away.

I have pepper sprayed several people in a civilian context, and it’s an incredibly low bar of force, it’s easy to articulate, and the entire point is for you to get away from the attacker. It could also be to access a more effective tool than pepper spray given the situation, but we have to understand that our key use case for spray is to spray and sprint.

Bad Marketing

Let’s be real, another significant problem with pepper spray’s public perception is poor marketing. Actually, poor marketing isn’t even accurate, but rather anti-pepper spray marketing. Think about the Glock shirt for a moment, which as an aside is thankfully no longer available. That was a product of the fact that for the longest time, commercial pepper spray was most commonly marketed for women. It was a lot easier to find a pink can of pepper spray on a keychain than a can of Sabre in a dude’s pocket back in the day. Commercial pepper spray companies would market their products for women, so that concerned husbands and boyfriends could buy something for their little lady who didn’t want to carry a gun.

The backlash against that type of marketing was the Glock shirt, and a dozen other similar marketing campaigns from firearms manufacturers. This idea gets reinforced in pop culture as well, where pepper spray carriers in TV and movies are 1) always women, and 2) the product is always ineffective. Probably my favorite example of pepper spray in pop culture comes from the 2007 Tarantino movie Death Proof, where the three female mains discover that one of them carries a gun. Two lines from the film illustrate this:

Abernathy: There are other things you can carry other then a gun. Pepper spray.

Kim: Uh, muthafucka tryin to rape me, I don’t want to give him a skin rash. I wanna shot that n**** down!

That does a really good job of encapsulating both the commercial marketing and the pop culture mindset around pepper spray. However, the biggest problem wasn’t any of that.

Bad Products

A lot of commercially available pepper spray is junk. Foams aren’t very effective, gels are extremely slow to act, and even a good proper stream spray is only going to be effective if the formulation has a high enough concentration of capsaicin. The most effective consumer pepper spray on the marketing right now is POM Pepper Spray, which is my personal choice and one I’ve used many times. It’s formulated to 10% OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) with 1.40% Major Capsaicinoids with 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which I copied straight from their website.

Meanwhile, the number one selling brand of pepper spray from Walmart, when tested independently was significantly lower than POM. But not only that, the most popular style of pepper spray is pepper gel, which is less effective than the stream format. Gel spray has lower OC content, lower heat units, and takes longer to affect the target. So why is arguably the worst form of pepper spray the best seller? Well this goes back to marketing, because gel sprays are also the best option if you’re scared of cross contamination. Which then goes back to tactics, because cross-contamination isn’t nearly as big a concern with civilian uses of spray as it is with LE.

The Last Word

Here’s the thing. Pepper spray is an extremely effective self-defense tool for everyone. It can go places you can’t take a gun, it’s a lower level of force than even punches, and when used correctly is extremely effective.

Over the years, a combination of bad marketing, bad products, and a misunderstanding of the tactics have created a negative perception among some people about pepper spray, but I do believe that trend is changing. Trainers like Craig Douglas, Chuck Haggard, and many other serious defensive instructors highly recommend pepper spray now, the market is starting to pay attention. If you’re looking for a quality spray, head over to the guys at POM and get one!

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It’s also important to note that the SecWar’s video didn’t provide any guidance on how to implement this new instruction, just sort of a broad “go and do,” and it also included the caveat that members would be requesting permission to carry off-duty from their installation commander. So let’s take a look at how guns on base work right now, some of the arguments against allowing this, and how SecWar’s advice might be implemented.

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I’m so sorry for that dusty old joke, but I just couldn’t resist it. In all seriousness though, NRA 2026 was awesome, and at least in my opinion was the best show that we’ve had since I started with Taurus in 2022. The buzz around our products was insane, most obviously the Taurus RPC, but some of our other guns as well. Here’s a quick rundown of everything that Taurus USA launched at NRAAM:

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The Taurus RPC

I won’t beat this one up again since I’ve already linked the article about it, but the Taurus RPC was without a doubt the biggest launch of the show. I heard people talking about it when I was in other booths and wandering around the show floor. Stole the show, and rightfully so, because it’s cool as f**** and you’re definitely going to want to get one. People are pre-ordering them for 800 bucks which is rad as hell.

Taurus Deputy Dual Cylinder

Here’s the thing. The RPC is going to steal the shine from all our other launches because 1) it’s so cool, and 2) these are all just line extensions. The RPC is a whole new category and it’s a super cool category that’s really in demand right now. That being said, the Deputy Dual Cylinder is really cool. Taurus has 9mm/357 guns in their DNA, right? The 692 is a great example of that. So it only makes sense to offer a 9mm/357 model of the popular Deputy revolver, because everyone loves single action guns and this is a perfect gateway drug for single action revolvers. If you’ve already got a stack of semi-automatic striker fired 9mm pistols laying around but you want to get into SA wheel guns, now you don’t have to stock up on an entirely new caliber. Just get the Deputy, throw the 9mm cylinder in there and have a good time.

Taurus GX2 TORO

Hey do you want a 13 round sub-compact 9mm that’s optics ready for Shield RMSc direct mounting and costs less than $300? Boy have I got good news for you because the Taurus GX2 TORO now exists. MSRP on this is $299.99, which means it’s going to street for like $250-$275. Holsters are available from Phlster and UM Tactical as well.

Rough Rider 32 H&R Magnum

This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s known me for longer than 2 seconds, but the Rough Rider in 32 Magnum is actually my favorite launch from NRAAM. What’s not to like? It’s a Heritage Rough Rider, which is the most popular revolver on earth, it’s a 32 Magnum, it’s got a nice long barrel, and it’s like $250 bucks. I love shooting mine, and I kind of want to run it in a cowboy action match now since 32 Mag is legal for that sport. Hell, I could run 32 Long and just have no recoil whatsoever.

NRAAM was a trip. The new launches were great, but the best part was seeing all you people. That’s the best part of these trips to me. The people. NRAAM is super fun as well because the vibe is chill and we can just hang out and talk about guns, which is always a good time. See you all in Atlanta next year!

“A roller delayed compact PDW,” said our head of engineering. “Same style operating system as the MP5, and everyone loves that.” I remember shaking my head and thinking that if we can pull this off, the eventual product was going to sell like hotcakes.

Spoiler alert. We pulled it off, and this thing rips.

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The Vitals

Alright, here are the specs on this thing, straight from Taurus USA:

• 9mm Platform with 32-round capacity

• Full-Length Picatinny Top Rail

• Rear Vertical Picatinny Rail

• M-LOK Handguard

• Fully Ambidextrous Controls

• Crisp Single-Stage Flat-Face Trigger

• Rubber Over Molded AR-15 Compatible Grip

• 4.5” Threaded Barrel

• Three QD Sling Attachment Points

• Quick-Change Barrel System

Other vital information: with the brace attached and no optics or anything it’s under 5lbs unloaded, which is a perfect weight for a gun in this class. My personal gun is set up with an optic, a WML, a muzzle device, and with a fully loaded mag tips the scales at 5 pounds 5 ounces.

Yes but how does it shoot?

It shoots awesome. So, with a normal straight blowback PCC, the bolt has to be super massive and heavy, right? That’s why 9mm PCCs don’t really recoil much softer than a 556 AR. But the roller delay system uses two rollers and a locking tip to keep the bolt in battery while pressure builds, then the gun goes through its cycle of operations. This keeps bolt mass lighter and reduces felt recoil.

Sub 2-second bill drills on a steel target at 10 yards were absolutely trivial with this gun. It’s no slouch in the accuracy department either. Shot from a rest at 25 yards I got a 1.78 inch group from Hornady Critical Defense.

Speaking of shooting it, let’s talk about the elephant, or brace in this room. Obviously, you should follow all federal laws and not shoulder your braces, right? Because this brace is clearly not designed to be shouldered, as clearly indicated by the sling QD attachment point right where your shoulder would go. Obviously you’re meant to put a sling there, and not shoulder this gun. That’s how it’s designed. You could also cheek it, like I’m doing the photo below. Using the brace to establish a cheek-weld then using push-pull on the gun to control the recoil is valid.

So it’s light, it shoots great, it comes with two 32-round magazines, and it’s more affordable than its only competitor in the market without sacrificing reliability. What’s not to like?

What I don’t like

Honestly, the only thing I don’t like is that it’s not a 16 inch PCC with a proper stock, because I tell you what I’d start shooting USPSA PCC and IDPA PCC so fast if I could get a proper carbine version of this. Truthfully I’m still considering it, but navigating the various laws around converting a gun like this to an SBR is a huge pain. Google “922r compliance” if you want to understand.

Now, you’re probably asking what a gun like this is for? I’ll tell you what, it’s for whatever you want it to be for. Range toy, home defense gun, truck gun, this thing will do it. It feeds everything I’ve stuffed into it, including some Golden Saber JHP that had the biggest ogive I’ve ever seen on a projectile. I legitimately was like “no shot these function” and then they ran fine.

The Taurus RPC is available now, it’s 940 bucks MSRP without the brace and 1099 with the brace. Instead of using German Space Magic like the MP5, it uses Brazilian acai magic. And like I said at the top of this post: it fucking rips.