FRI | DECEMBER 3, 2021

Team Federal sponsored shooters finished strong at the recent 2021 Fort Benning Multigun Challenge.Federal supported this year’s match as a Gold Sponsor.
PROOF Research shooter Austin Orgain, took home the Precision Rifle Series Pro Series Golden Bullet award for the second year in a row and is now ranked #1 in the PRS Bolt Gun Series PRO Division.
Lapua has teamed up with DI Precision, Impact Precision, and Texas Precision Matches to create a fund to support 8-year-old precision rifle shooter Nolan Tondera's continued shooting in PRS rimfire matches following the passing of his father.

SilencerCo is launching a free suppressor promo that customers won't want to miss. Starting November 15, 2021, and running through December 24, 2021, customers who make a purchase over a certain dollar threshold will receive either a free Silencerco Octane or Warlock suppressor.

Turning the Shadow 2 up a notch, CZ-USA released the CZ Shadow 2 Orange pistol, designed and manufactured for the competitive shooter who wants to win.
An overlooked advantage of shoulder systems – including horizontal shoulder holsters – is how easy they are to reach when wearing heavy winter clothing. Galco offers a variety, including the Miami Classic, Miami Classic II, the Jackass Rig and the Classic Lite 2.0.

SAR USA by Sarsilmaz, a manufacturer of firearms, is searching for a highly motivated and experienced manufacturers sales rep group to service the Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma territory.
MidwayUSA is pleased to announce the promotion of Neal Lines to the position of Internet Advertising Manager. Neal began his career at MidwayUSA in 2008 as an Application Development Intern.
Primary Arms Optics has announced its attendance at Kalashmas 2021, an annual ‘Bring Your Own Gun’ range event held from 9AM to 5PM on December 4th at Renaissance Shooting Club in Todd Mission, Texas.

Firearms Policy Coalition announced that Vortex Optics has joined FPC’s Constitution Alliance family in support of FPC’s legal action and advocacy programs to defend and advance the right to keep and bear arms.

Media Lodge, a digital media platform for the outdoors industry, announced new partnerships with ArmoryTV and TheGUN.Forum that will provide content and expand its influencer access.
Creedmoor Sports announced the TRX-925 Precision Reloading Scale. The ability of the TRX-925 to read down to 0.01 grains, eliminating the gram/grain conversion process, and measuring natively in grains, were necessary to achieve the level of accuracy reloaders expect.
Davidson’s announced one of its latest exclusives – the UTAS UT9-M Mini. It is a 6” barreled closed-bolt, blowback action 9mm pistol with a black matte finish, an overall length of just 14 inches and it accepts Glock magazines.
Dealers and customers in California are encouraged to contact Rock River Arms to place orders on their select models of California-compliant modern sporting rifles and pistols..
Taurus introduced the next iteration of its GX4 micro-compact pistol, the Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. -- with the Taurus Optic Ready Option mounting system. Installation of a compatible red dot optic onto the Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. is fast, easy, and does not require the services of a gunsmith.

U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) President and Founder Tim Schmidt hosted an online broadcast with U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney (NY-22) about the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case that was recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
RSR Group, Inc., a nationwide distributor of firearms and shooting sports accessories, announced its 2021 "E-Vault" online event featuring Magpul. It begins on Tuesday, December 7th at 11:00 a.m. ET, and concludes on Friday, December 10, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
NM Collector Software, a digital program for keeping track of a collector’s inventory information, is currently offering a 10 percent discount, matched by a 10 percent donation to the CMP, for anyone making a purchase through its website using the “ODCMP” code.

It’s hunting, gun powder, exclusive guns, self-defense training, and more, this week on Tom Gresham's Gun Talk® Radio.
Lancaster Archery Supply will continue as a DIAMOND LEVEL sponsor of S3DA and as always, provide Scholastic 3-D Archery members advice for choosing from the largest selection of top-quality 3D, target, bowhunting, and traditional archery equipment in the world.
 

I was contacted a month ago about the new variant of the ergonomically superb Taurus GX4 11-shot 9mm pistol. About the size of the GLOCK 43 (smaller than the G43X), it’s a double-to-single stack magazine and, while very small, it’s become known as a very solid 9mm pistol.

The new gun is the GX4 T.O.R.O. - Taurus Optic Ready Option. I wasn’t surprised that Taurus made this happen; the trend to optics on service pistols has become optics on compact and micro-compact guns. How relevant is that?

Some reluctance to optics on concealment guns revolves around bulk. With the micro-pistol, the added ‘footprint’ is still smaller than the so-called compact service pistol. And, as the smaller pistols have become “a thing,” the optics designers have continually made the electro-sight smaller without compromising battery life, options and – to some extent – durability.

Our use of the mini-Taurus was documented here, here and here. That created high hopes for the latest variant.

As supplied and fitted, for my testing, the Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. was fitted with the Holosun HS507K X2 optic. This is my first hands-on experience with Holosun optics.

When first activated, I saw the “circle around the dot” reticle – a 32-MOA circle with a 2-MOA centered dot. I figured that would work for me. The gun was about the same as the Taurus GX4 that arrived earlier in the year, except it was supplied with an eleven round magazine and a thirteen-round magazine. It also came with the “Taurus tool” keychain (which didn’t accompany the first gun) and other odds and ends. It was in the OD Green plastic box, like the original.

As with the original GX4, I installed the larger palm-swell backstrap. I found it made the nicely sculpted frame a better fit for me.

The Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. (in the middle, above) is between the Springfield Armory Hellcat RDP and the Ruger MAX9 (bottom). The guns are similar in size and purpose. Below, the newer GX4 is identical to the original (on the right) -- except for the optic.

I took the new gun to the range the month before the public release. Beginning with the long magazine -- I find the GX4 to be a bit short for precision shooting – and using Hornady 124 grain XTP +P ammo, I sought to rough-in a zero on the optic. Shooting from a seated rest at fifteen yards, I found the group was exactly two inches left of point-of-aim of the optic. I cranked the 1MOA adjustment right and tried with another five rounds on the same target. The group was nicely centered. Without my induced low flier, four of the bullets hit into 1 3/8”. With the flyer, it was a three-inch group, which made me sad. But the trigger is different from other guns – I can’t really explain how – and I hadn’t been to a range in around five weeks.

I tried Federal Syntech Defense 138 grain “SJHP” ammo next and found that five hits went into 2 ¼”. The best three of five rounds fired crowded into 1 3/8”. With Federal Premium Personal Defense “Punch” ammo – featuring a 124 grain JHP – I put five hits into 2 3/8” with three going into 1 ¼”.

Top, the GX4 T.O.R.O/Holosun is shown with the Galco Corvus holster used for the range drills. Next, the circle-dot reticle of the Holosun helped the geezer "find the dot" when shooting. At the bottom, the gun shot Hornady 124 gr. XTP +P quite well.

 

Going back to the Hornady 124gr. XTP +P, I worked on singles, pairs, and one-handed shooting from seven yards. I induced a premature lock-back and a failure to carry-up using the long magazine.

Swapping guns, I used the 11-round magazine with the non-optics GX4 and had no stoppages. I’m thinking it was the way I held the gun with the longer magazine. I had to sort that out on another trip.

As with the original GX4 – which performed so well – I tried the GX4 T.O.R.O./ Holosun HS507K X2 combination on a ‘LEOSA’ type course of fire. I concentrated on stages requiring me to “find the reticle” from the holster and from low-ready.

I used the recently received Galco Corvus synthetic holster. Using it outside-the-waistband – getting used to a new gun, pistol-mounted optics and a new holster at the same time was stacking personal challenges, not helping me evaluate gun and optic – I was able to shoot a short 25-round qual course, firing singles and pairs at distances from 3 yards to 25 yards, dropping a single point. All hits were on the IALEFI-Q ‘bottle’ -- all in the maximum scoring inner ring except one. It was inside the outer ring.

I wanted to see if I could duplicate the stoppages of my first range trip. I mixed Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX and Critical Duty 124gr. +P ammo in each magazine. I incurred no stoppages.

On a third range trip, I tried the new gun on the close-quarters standards I’d cobbled together. They include the ‘high percentage’ close range course, my take on the second stage of the handgun qualification from the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement and the Bakersfield PD/Mike Waidelich standards from years ago. The course was shot on the IALEFI-Q target with each string timed and recorded.

The course is tilted to accuracy over speed. As the “par times” are “suggestions” – we deduct a point for each quarter of a second over time – the 80/100 required to pass requires 100% shot accountability-zero misses on the silhouette.

With the GX4 T.O.R.O. and Holosun optic, I added the excellent Galco Corvus belt holster and shot retail-purchased Norma Range & Training 124 gr. FMJ ammo.

My times weren’t optimum; the gun is little – as is the magazine – and trying to fumble them into performing standard range drills was a chore. My only score penalty was on the first ‘high percentage’ shot which I dragged just outside the scoring ring. All the other losses were on time.

The ‘high percentage’ drill, single shots to the smaller scoring area (4” circle) from the holster (start with hand in a firing grip on the holstered handgun), saw two of the five attempts go over time. The worst included the dropped point and was just short of a quarter second over. I finished with three on-time/in-time. The best effort was a .95 second.

The FDLE Stage 2 features a start from a ready position (I’m aimed in at the dirt below the target stand) and requires a pair of hits in the maximum scoring area in one second. All three efforts delivered the hits in the “X” and the times were from .77 second to .99 second. At my age, I’ll take it. As the gun started in hand and I didn’t have to acquire a grip, it was simple enough.

The Waidelich qualification features pairs from ten feet, twenty feet and sixty feet. At thirty feet, there’s a pair followed by a slide-lock reload and another pair. I went over time on three of the four stages – the reload was a disaster. There’s not enough magazine to get at in a hurry. The hits were all inside.


As to the first two elements, the composite (including penalties) was 97%. The final score on the Bakersfield course was a 90/100. The gun/optic combo is certainly capable enough up close – and it works well at distance.

I had four rounds left over. After taping the target, I stepped back to fifty yards and fired carefully. I hit off to the right side of the silhouette – and I don’t believe it’s the zero on the optic. The gun, even with the large backstrap, is small enough that a minor grip/trigger issue is enough to throw you off. At that, the gun hit nearly point of aim for elevation, putting four hits in 4 3/8” – the best three of the four went into 2 ½”.

I was stunned by the group. Had I just held a little left …

There were no stoppages on this, the last range trip. I’m impressed with the handling and accuracy of the new gun. The optic is remarkable. I seem to have a vast preference for the “circle-dot” type of reticle. Up close, I use the circle for coarse aiming. At fifty yards, I centered the circle onto the IALEFI silhouette with the dot hovering over the scoring rings. I’d say there’s more than enough precision built in. Add to that, the ammunition from all makers worked very well.

Congratulations to Taurus – and to Holosun. The combination puts ‘legs’ on the micro-gun. If it’s the only gun you use, you’ll find your ability to get a ‘good enough’ grip with a little practice. Dry practice, like with the MantisX system (like Laser Academy), pays dividends.

-- Rich Grassi

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