** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
There is not a lot of glamour to be had cleaning and maintaining firearms, but such tasks are critical to ensure our tools perform as intended, when needed. The engineering minds at Real Avid have always found creative ways to update and improve the common tools and supplies needed for gun care, and the recently introduced Smart Mat and Bore Boss are great examples of the company’s ingenuity.
Joe Kurtenbach gets hands on with these modern renditions of time-proven products in this week's NRA Gun Gear of the Week video.
In 2024, former owner Gregg Ritz purchased Thompson/Center Arms. Now the company has introduced a modern take on its classic Contender/Encore concept: the ENCORE PROHunter.
While it's certainly a saturated marketplace these days, the AR-15 has never been more popular with American firearm enthusiasts, and many manufacturers are continuing to feed the need with new options loaded with new features.
Like any hobby or pastime that is in any way even vaguely related to machines or technology, firearms attract a (possibly) disproportionate number of “right-brained,” STEM-oriented personalities who like numbers.
Slingshots are fun, but they can also be a legitimate backup defensive tool—in 2023, a 13-year-old Michigan boy saved his 8-year-old sister from being kidnapped by using a $3 slingshot to fire a marble and a rock at the assailant, striking him in the chest and head.
Over the years, Ruger has enhanced its LCP with the introduction of the LCP II and LCP Max. New for 2026, Ruger is offering a new version of the LCP Max with the addition of a Magpul Enhanced Handgun Grip.