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Federal Premium has introduced the Gold Medal Grand, a shotshell line geared toward clay-target competitors. It boasts a two-piece wad updated with new Soft-Cell technology that compresses slightly as the shot fires. Doing so lessens shot deformation, resulting in rounder pellets that produce consistent patterns. The cushioning effect also reduces felt recoil. Grand loads are the first shotshells utilizing Federal’s proprietary Catalyst primer, which contains no lead styphnate, but instead incorporates an aluminum component that produces a hotter firing temperature, thus promoting more efficient ignition of the propellant charge. Available in No. 7½ and 8 loadings, white-hulled Gold Medal Grands promise to become a fixture on trap, skeet and sporting clays fields. federalpremium.com
Defensive gun use is defined by uncertainty. You don’t know when it will happen, how far away the threat will be, how many threats you will face or what position you will be in when it begins.
In 2025, Turkish manufacturer Derya Arms opened a new facility in Florida, enabling the company to produce a number of new products domestically, such as its new OBone suppressor.
The cycle of operation is the mechanical sequence of events that it takes to fire one shot out of a firearm. If one of those steps fails to take place as designed, there is an interruption in the cycle of operation and the gun stops firing.
The Colt Model 1911 pistol and its derivatives are among the most iconic military handguns ever made. But in 2026, does the M1911 still hold up as a quality defensive arm?