Beating the Reaper!, Vol. 1: Trauma Medicine for the CCW Operator is directed toward the “Average Joe” who may have never taken a first-aid class, and certainly doesn’t consider himself to be a medically trained special operator. Instead, he is someone who realizes that, just as with his shooting skills, he needs to have skill to help save someone’s life, perhaps his own, in the aftermath of shooting or other traumatic event. He’s the “CCW Operator” who doesn’t have a team medic nearby. He must show the same self-reliance that got him through the initial incident.

If card shooters, sporting-clays shooters, skeep and trap shooters, hunters and shotgun owners in general all agree on the benefits of the screw-in choke, and millions of guns have been made with fixed chokes, how big do you suppose the need for screw-in choke installation is? It is enormous! You should learn to install screw-in chokes.

Gun Tests Contributing Editor Roger Eckstine shoots the Chiappa Rhino revolver and remarks on the unusual recoil sensation.

Gun Tests Contributing Editor Roger Eckstine takes a quick look at the Thompson 1927A-1 Deluxe Pistol TA5100D.

Gun Reports - News

Video: Gun Tests Magazine Recognizes Kel-Tec for PMR-30 22 Magnum “Best in Class Pistol”

(GunReports.com) -- Gun Tests Magazine Publisher Timothy H. Cole recognized Kel-Tec’s PMR-30 22 WMR as the publication’s “Best in Class Pistol” for 2011 at the just-concluded SHOT Show in Las Vegas.

Cole made a special award to Derek Kellgren, Kel-Tec CNC Industries’ Director of Marketing, at the show.

The pistol joins a Ruger LCR wheelgun, an AR-style 300 Whisper from SSK Industries, a 12-gauge autoloading shotgun from Legacy Sports International, and a laser/light combo accessory from Crimson Trace as the magazine’s “Best in Class” 2011 honorees.

“Our accept-no-advertising policy gives us the freedom to choose guns that simply work well,” said Gun Tests Publisher Timothy H. Cole. “The ‘Best in Class’ winners exhibit the traits we prize — accuracy, reliability, tight fit and finish, handsome cosmetics, and value for the dollar.”

The exact test model was the Kel-Tec PMR-30 No. 408320267 22 WMR, originally reviewed in the November 2011 issue of Gun Tests. The PMR-30 semiauto holds 30 rounds of 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire cartridges in the magazine.

The slide and barrel are made of 4140 steel housed in a 7075 aluminum frame. The grip, slide cover, trigger, mag release, and safety levers are glass-reinforced Zytel nylon, much like other Kel-Tec pistols.

Other features include dual opposing extractors, heel magazine release, dovetailed aluminum front sight, Picatinny accessory rail under the barrel, urethane recoil buffer, captive coaxial recoil springs. The PMR-30 disassembles for cleaning by removal of a pin.

Reader Comments

I have owned one of these for a few months. It is a fun gun to shoot, albeit extremely light weight. The light weight characteristics are not a limitation, but it does take some getting used to. When I first got mine, I often found myself comparing it to the M16 rifle as it made its debut back in the 1960s. Like the M16, it looks and feels like a toy.....until you pull the trigger. It is pleasant shooting, but it is somewhat difficult to properly load the magazine with the full compliment of thirty rounds.

Comment by: canovack | January 26, 2012

I'm going to have to eventually buy one of these. Just because.

Comment by: david b | January 26, 2012

"Just because" is as good a reason as I can think of for going out and buying one.

Comment by: canovack | January 26, 2012

If this is best in class I'll go back to a red ryder bb gun. This thing has had months of delays getting to market and then 3 recalls. Because of the pm-30 I sold all my kel-tecs and will never buy another

Comment by: Buzz C | January 26, 2012

Experience is the best teacher! That said, if I had some bad experience with something, I might be a bit jaded toward anything else produced by the company. That said, however, I have found, on enough occasions, that one bad experience with a particular brand, did not necessarily mean that all products under that same brand are undesirable. So, opinions are like anuses.....everybody has one, and they often vary.

Comment by: canovack | January 26, 2012

Why would you award the PMR-30 the gun of the year when the gun buying public cannot even buy a working model? There is no availability of PMR-30s.

Comment by: v_moto | January 26, 2012

From what I've read I would have to agree that they are well deserving of the award. It's a shame that production has beeen stalled to an almost standstill. But the biggest shame for me at least is that this gun isn't on the California roster, cause I would love to own one. Maybe there's a "one shot" exemption in my future!

Comment by: Solstice | January 27, 2012

I wonder if Buzz C. owned a PM-30, or if he is just upset with an American company trying to make sure it's right before thousands buy their product. AND, if he hasn't owned one, and is satisfied with their other products, why get rid of them? It just doesn't make sense to me

Comment by: Muleman | January 27, 2012

Reactionary knee-jerk activities seldom do make sense.

Comment by: canovack | January 27, 2012

Sometimes, especially when it's a screen name that I don't recall seeing, I wonder if the writer doesn't have some kind of agenda. Maybe Buzz is really just over-reactive, but maybe he's just a troll trying to start arguments, or maybe he works for some Kel-tec competitor trying to discourage growth of the company. Who knows?

Comment by: david b | January 27, 2012

The gun may be great, as well as worthy of the award. From Canovack's comments, that seems to be the case. However, I have yet to see one anywhere, and agree with the sentiment that a "Best in Class" ought to be generally available, or at least available enough that you cannot get one because they are flying off the shelves. Normally, I could care less, but this was Gun Tests....

Comment by: PVB | January 30, 2012

PVB.....Normally you could NOT care less. Now I don't wish to make a big deal out of this, but way back in the 1950s when I first encountered this expression, it was properly stated as "I couldn't care less". The meaning, of course was that no amount of caring could be less than that expressed. For whatever the reason might be, the expression has become bastardized into what we commonly hear/see....."I could care less", which of course means that the individual does indeed care to some extent about the subject because he is capable of caring less about it. When we say "I couldn't care less" we are telling it like it is, that there is absolutely no sort of caring about the particular subject.

Now, I'd guess that I've gone and taken up a bunch of space ranting about English language usage, but as a retired educator, and as a retired Army officer whose Pentagonese writing skills were tested to the max, I cannot let this thing go without comment. If it pisses somebody off.....please know that I could NOT care less.

Comment by: canovack | January 30, 2012

Thanks for a good laugh Colonel. Not a laugh at your post, but a laugh at your need to do so. I guess you can take the cowboy out of the country but can't take the country out of the cowboy. In your case, teacher and teaching.

Comment by: david b | January 30, 2012

Damn - glad I didn't use a double negative or something!! ;)

Comment by: PVB | January 30, 2012

P V B - don't you mean "didn't use no double negative"?

Comment by: david b | January 30, 2012

lmao! I hope the Colonel is as well!!

Comment by: PVB | January 30, 2012

Yeah, I am..... As you guys noted, sometimes we just can't help ourselves for what we were.

Comment by: canovack | January 31, 2012