Gun reviews are TTAG’s ballistic meat and potatoes. Wait. I’ve fired a potato gun. Is there such a thing as a meat gun? I feel a song coming on! Anyway, millions of folks search TTAG for our no-holds-barred reviews. Click here to search our 541-guns-and-counting database. Click on the titles below to check the relevant TTAG review. Here are the top three most visited gun reviews in the last year in reverse order.
We love getting new guns to review. In this biz, there’s definitely a first-mover advantage. But we realize that many people are interested in bread-and-butter ballistic solutions. And it don’t get more bread-and-butter than the Smith & Wesson SD9 VE, the lowest priced pistola de plastico in the S&W lineup.
Tyler Kee reviewed the SD9 VE some four years ago. It’s no dog. According to TTAG’s first Texan, Smith’s semi “points like an Irish Setter.” It’s “a dead nuts reliable, well-made budget firearm” that’s “cheap to buy and cheap to run.” Which accounts for its third spot in TTAG’s page hit parade.
A word of caution: Tyler found the SD9 VE’s trigger longer than an Israeli supermodel’s stems (my metaphor, lifted from the time when such things were de rigueur around here). Fortunately, you can fix that (the trigger, I sworn off Israeli supermodel links) with an aftermarket kit for not a lot of dough.
In short, the Smith & Wesson SD9 VE’s an unsung hero that gets a voice on TTAG.
2. SIG SAUER P320
SIG and TTAG share more than the caps lock key; we’ve got an excellent working relationship with the brand. Mind you, we aren’t in anyone’s pocket…we tell it like it is. And the SIG SAUER P320 is a solid four-star gun.
Our man Foghorn’s review highlighted the P320’s modularity: the pistol’s frame accommodates various caliber conversions and drop-in trigger packs. Bonus! The plug-and-play components can be sent straight to your door.
Or U.S. Army armories, now that Uncle Sam has named the P320 their new standard-issue sidearm — explaining the P320’s sudden race up the TTAG gun review hit parade.
Nick went all Kool & The Gang describing the P320’s solidity. He also praised the SIG’s trigger, then slated it for lacking perfection. Speaking of which, Nick recommended the P320 over an equivalent GLOCK and declared the Army’s new gun a “tack driver.” ‘Nuff said?
1. SIG SAUER MCX
Two years ago, Nick got to grips with the adjustable gas-piston operated SIG SAUER MCX, describing its unique selling point thusly: “Barrel changes are easier than coming up with a metaphor for something easy.” Funny guy.
Sealing his reputation for taciturn curmudgeonliness (yes WP, that’s a word), Nick wrote “I was able to get a proper cheek weld on the gun with no problem and the way that the comb of the stock is designed felt like a slightly slimmer version of a standard AR-15 stock. No complaints from me there.”
Complaints? Nick has a few. Then again . . . My man’s main kvetch shows that he does indeed have metaphorical mastery. (Mastery of metaphors? Whatever.)
The MCX’s trigger is a whole lot less than wonderful (i.e. awful). It’s heavier than a sumo wrestler carrying a small Toyota. Creepier than finding a sad clown doll in the back of your car. It stacks more than the set design for Future War. I’ve said it before (which not-so-coincidentally rhymes with Tavor): an awful trigger can ruin a good gun. Accuracy is finite. When you can’t get a proper trigger pull, it’s impossible to achieve a rifle’s maximum accuracy.
So “while its accuracy is on a par with rifles in the same price range” the MCX “exceeds its competitors’ functionality and modularity.” It’s a hit! Both with our resident pilot/programmer/violist/gun guy and TTAG’s readership. Nice work, guys!
Mine? It’s three reviews, all by Jeremy. The muzzle break & compensator reviews and the drop-in trigger review. Real nuts and bolts, unbiased and using standard metrics across the entire test so you have a basis for comparison. I’d love to see updates of these as new products come along, but they are real solid reviews I’ve come back to a few times (and referred others to) in their quest to make the perfect AR.
The next trigger one has started, but will likely be a somewhat long process. It’ll cover component triggers (multi-piece ones that aren’t in a housing… i.e. a typical AR-15 style trigger setup). There are three 5.56 brake tests, one .308 brake test, and two 5.56 flash hiding tests already published. More brake tests will come this spring, to include dB meter data and concussion data.
I’ve referenced the muzzle device review a few times. Despite the really good info, I’ve always ended up buying Griffin flash comps. I’m really surprised at the results of these top 3. I was expecting something else at the #1 spot. I wouldn’t think the MCX would’ve even made the top 10 list. I was thinking all of them would’ve been handguns.
If I had to guess, and this is purely speculation, Sig winning the MHS had a lot to do with the P320 review getting so many hits. The extra hits for the MCX unfortunately might be due to the night club massacre as scores of people Googled what the hell a Sig MCX was… But I digress. I have both the MCX and P320 and love them both. TTAG reviews might have swayed my decision a bit!
You’re correct in that both reviews spiked in massive ways after those two news items…
Sure I guess. I can’t say I remember any of them.
There is an r in curmudgeonly
Wait, a TTAG article with no Glock?
i am guilty of stopping in to see just which one. pleasant surprise.
ttag should hold a contest to guess which three reviews are the least perused.
So…..two that have been in the news recently and one that has not.
How wide a margin in views are there between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?
Looks like the SD stirs a lot of interest with its low “street” price.
Was the Canik 4th?
“Gun reviews are TTAG’s ballistic meat and potatoes.”
I wish that were true.
I’d say that’s true. And TTAG is on a pretty strict diet, so they’re only doing meat and potatoes for dinner once every couple of weeks.
I think that’s kind of a reasonable point.
I’d point out though that reviewing something properly takes quite a bit of time. Writing the review, especially if you’ve done it before, really isn’t that time consuming. It’s getting the information to put into the review that takes a lot of time.
Wanna review a backpack? Well you better walk with it on your back for a fair number of miles before you start spouting off. Not like five miles. That’s a lazy review that isn’t worth reading. 100 miles is good but serious readers want at least 50. At 3mph that’s 16.6-33.3 hours of walking before you can start writing your review.
A gun isn’t much different. It needs to be shot, cleaned, shot again, stripped and reassembled. It’s not just walk out and put 100 rounds through her and write about it. It’s more rounds than that plus you’ve gotta patch targets, measure shot groups, shoot in different ways that most people don’t bother with, maybe chrono the gun with various ammo Time to and from the range. A serious review might not take the writer a really long time to write but it will take them quite awhile to gather the data for.
You need to do these things A LOT and you better take notes on this stuff, pictures, find problems and highlight good features otherwise your review is bullshit. Like everything else, quality work takes a bit more time.
You don’t notice it if you have owned it for awhile because you went out and hand fun and can draw on that experience. Being handed something brand new that you’ve never seen before and doing a proper review of it is a lot more actual work.
golf is not a sport.
Meat gun? Potato gun? Meh. Paul Stanley had a love gun.
I’ve been out of the game for a few years, but I’m devastated that none of my reviews made the list. My review of running the IPSC Custom Jennings J-22 shoulda been a contender! And speaking of Contenders, my team writeup (with Joe Grine) of the .338 Lapua ‘Bad News’ T/C Encore pistol certainly made an impression…in the middle of my forehead.
Oh, wait, I thought today was April 1st…oops.
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