by David Crane david@defensereview.com Springfield Armory’s XD Pistols recently won the NRA’s 2003 Golden Bullseye Award for "Handgun of the Year". That’s pretty impressive. Just as impressive is the fact that Springfield Armory has introduced both a 3" Sub-Compact XD and 5" Tactical XD model of the X-Treme Duty (XD) pistol in such a relatively short time. DefenseReview has been …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com For anyone on the lookout for a new pocket pistol for concealed carry (CCW), you might want to check out these two new offerings from North American Arms (NAA). They’re called the Guardian .32 NAA and Guardian .25 NAA (25NAA). The purpose of both these guns is to give some increased punch/penetration to the traditional .32 …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefRev’s been hearing some good things about this item. The Surefire X200 LED WeaponLight is Surefire’s latest handgun-mounted tactical light, and it’s designed to go head-to-head against Insight Technology’s M3 group of tactical weapons lights. These include the M3 Tactical Illuminator, M3-LED Tactical Illuminator, and M3X Tactical Illuminator. DefRev has yet to T&E the Surefire X200 …

DefRev recently published a short piece titled Strike Plate Rail System (S.P.R.S) for 1911 Pistols. Here are some hi-res pics of the S.P.R.S. to go along with that story:… Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Pic 5 Pic 6 Pic 7

by David Crane david@defensereview.com If your 1911 pistol doesn’t incorporate an integral rail, you might want to give this product some serious consideration. The Strike Plate Rail System (S.P.R.S.) is a combination tactical light rail/strike plate, and it’s pretty trick. Urban Advantage Tactical Systems just introduced it at TREXPO West 2004. A strike plate like the S.P.R.S. prevents the slide …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Crimson Trace has just come out with their 4th Generation Lasergrips for the 1911 pistol. If you own a 1911 pistol (Government Model or Commander), and are thinking about outfitting it with a laser sight, you definitely want to check this product out. DefRev hasn’t tested them yet, but they look pretty trick. The following info …

This one’s interesting. Brought to you by the fine people at Hogue grips, the Avenger™ system/kit, a fixed barrel upper (slide, barrel, and associated parts) for 1911 pistols, is a patents-pending system that eliminates the need for precision fitting a conventional 1911 slide and barrel. You can read all about the… Hogue Avenger™ system by clicking on this link. We’ll …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Speaking of compact and subcompact pistols (see story below), DefRev also has yet to run the XD (X-treme Duty) pistols by Springfield Armory. The two models we’re most interested in evaluating are the 4 inch service model XD pistol and the 3 inch Sub-Compact XD pistol. The 3" subcompact XD pistol might actually be the most …

If you’re a fan of the CZ-75 pistol, you might want to take a look at the new CZ P-01 pistol that was designed for the Czech national police. Instead of the CZ-75’s 1911-style frame-mounted sweep-down manual thumb safety, the CZ P-01 utilizes a frame-mounted manual decocker. "Guns & Ammo" recently published this article on the CZ P-01 pistol. It’s …

DefRev has found some good info on the Russian Yarygin pistol and MP-446 Viking at GlobalArms.net. Both were developed for the Russian Army in order to satisfy specific Russian military requirements. Click here to visit the Yarygin pistol page. To go directly to the MP-446 Viking pistol page, click on this link.