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Smith & Wesson opened its Performance Center in 1989 in order to create custom race guns, eventually expanding to a variety of guns ranging from hunting rifles to carry guns. What makes S&W Performance Center firearms unique is that although many of the firearms might contain special features that are typically found only in "one off" custom guns, the manufacturer produces them in large enough quantities to keep them affordable and available to everyone. Many Performance Center guns—like thePorted M&P Shield—originate from standard designs and are then customized and tuned for precision, while others are created from the ground up to include hand cutting and fitting. Overall, Smith & Wesson prides itself not only on its products but also its employees, with some of its workers being the third generation of their family to work for the company. Check out this segmentfrom a recent episode ofAmerican Rifleman TV to learn more about Smith & Wesson's Performance Center.
This episode of NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast refutes one of the biggest false claims gun-control groups and the politicians they support repeat ad nauseam by asserting that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined the AR-15.
Initially designed by Croatian manufacturer HS Produkt to fulfill a military contract, the Kuna has since arrived on U.S. shores through Springfield Armory as a semi-automatic, large-format handgun chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge.
North Carolina’s Bear Creek Arsenal makes AR-15s, 10/22s and handguns, but new for 2026, it is introducing its first AK-pattern firearm with the BC-47.
Reliable pistol-caliber carbines, especially with quick-caliber-change capability, are fun, and the ASR 1911 from TNW Firearms is one of the most unique of the bunch.
Voyager Technologies announced on Sept. 8 that the GOEX plant in Camp Minden, La.—the sole black powder manufacturing facility located in the United States—has been modernized and is back in production.