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AR-15 Rifles, Pistols & Tactical Gear | Gun Store in Roanoke, TX

Premium firearms, optics, and tactical gear for professionals and enthusiasts.

 

Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson launches new .300 BLK M&P15 AXE series

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Smith & Wesson has expanded its M&P15 lineup with the new AXE series, specifically chambered in .300 Blackout. Designed for suppressor use, these compact platforms are available as either braced pistols or short-barreled rifles, offering shooters a highly optimized, gas-managed system for tactical or recreational applications.

Optimized for suppressed performance

The primary innovation within the new M&P15 AXE series is the integration of Gemtech GVAC technology. Suppressed shooting often results in excessive gas blowback, which can be distracting and uncomfortable for the operator. The GVAC system utilizes a specialized expansion chamber that vents excess gas forward through the muzzle. This design significantly mitigates the amount of gas directed back toward the shooter, ensuring a cleaner and more pleasant experience when using a suppressor.

Premium hardware and configuration

Beyond its gas management capabilities, the M&P15 AXE is built with high-end components to ensure reliability and ease of use. The platform features a 7-inch Midwest Industries Combat M-LOK free-floated handguard, providing ample space for accessories while maintaining a lightweight profile. The inclusion of a Radian Raptor ambidextrous charging handle and fully ambidextrous controls makes the firearm highly adaptable for various shooting styles and preferences.

Feature Specification
Barrel Length 8 inches
Twist Rate 1:7.5-inch
Muzzle Thread 5/8×24
Handguard 7-inch Midwest Industries

Pricing and availability

Both the pistol and SBR configurations are designed for versatility. The pistol version comes equipped with a Magpul BTR arm brace, while the SBR variant features a Magpul CTR adjustable stock and Williams folding adjustable sights. Both models ship with a 30-round magazine, making them ready for the range immediately upon purchase. The M&P15 AXE pistol has an MSRP of $1,480, while the SBR version is priced at $1,500.

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Did Someone Finally Make the Perfect Carry Revolver?

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The Smith & Wesson 386 Night Guard has made a quiet comeback, and it is quickly shaping up to be one of the best defensive carry revolvers the company has ever put out. It might not be the lightest or the most affordable option on the market, but its balance of capacity, shootability, and durability makes it a really interesting piece for anyone looking to carry a revolver daily.

Rethinking the carry revolver

When you look at this gun, it’s easy to compare it to smaller or larger models, but that misses the point. It feels like the Glock 19 of the revolver world—not because it’s a polymer semi-auto, but because it doesn’t try to be the absolute master of one thing while failing at three others. It sits right in that sweet spot where it’s heavy enough to control but light enough to actually wear on your belt all day.

How it stacks up

The real beauty of the Night Guard is how it beats out many of its own siblings in the S&W catalog. For instance, compared to the 686 Plus, you are getting essentially the same capacity and barrel length but dropping about three-quarters of a pound. That is a massive difference if you are carrying it for eight or ten hours a day.

When you look at smaller guns like the 640 or the 340PD, you’re losing capacity and ballistic energy. Those J-frame guns are great for deep concealment, but they can be a bear to shoot well under stress. The 386 gives you that extra inch of barrel which really helps with velocity, plus you get two extra rounds in the cylinder.

Shooting impressions

Taking this thing to the range, it honestly handles well. The .38 Special loads are a breeze, and even shooting rapid fire in double-action, it stays on target. You can absolutely tell it’s a shorter-barreled revolver, especially when you step up to .357 Magnum. It’s going to have some snap, and you’ll see plenty of muzzle flash, but that’s the trade-off for having something this concealable.

The double-action trigger is surprisingly easy to work with. If you are training for a defensive situation, you aren’t going to be carefully thumbing that hammer back to single-action status—you’re going to be pulling that trigger as needed. Having a reliable, smooth double-action pull out of the box makes a big difference.

Why it works for real life

At the end of the day, a gun is only useful if you actually have it with you. We’ve all got that drawer full of guns that are just a little too bulky, a little too heavy, or just uncomfortable to carry. The Night Guard seems to solve that. It balances the weight of the scandium frame with the shootability of an L-frame, and the PVD finish is a life-saver if you live in a humid place where standard steel usually starts to show rust after a few weeks of summer carry. It might not be a fancy competition gun, but for a tool meant to save your skin, it just makes sense.

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S&W CSX E-Series: the micro 9mm that finally got the trigger right

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Lance here from Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas. The video above is a full review of the S&W CSX E-Series micro 9mm, and it’s worth your time if you’re shopping this class of gun. I want to add my own two cents as a gunsmith and dealer, because the CSX has an interesting history: the original was a good idea with real problems, and the E-Series is S&W admitting that and fixing it.

What the S&W CSX E-Series micro 9mm is

Think of it as a hammer-fired, single-action micro 9mm with 1911 manners in a double-stack carry package. That’s a rare combination. Most guns in this class are striker-fired, so if you learned on a 1911 and want that crisp single-action trigger and thumb safety in a modern carry size, the CSX is one of the only games in town.

What the E-Series fixed

The original CSX’s trigger was its weak spot. False resets, inconsistent breaks, the kind of thing that erodes your confidence in a defensive gun fast. The reviewer found the E-Series trigger crisp with a short, positive reset, and that matches what I’ve felt handling them. S&W also added an ambidextrous safety, which lefties will appreciate.

One honest caveat from the review that I’ll echo: if you have big hands, watch for a little bite from the grip during recoil. Micro guns make you pay for their size somewhere, and a snappy recoil impulse comes with the territory on a 3.1-inch barrel. Handle one before you buy if you can.

Capacity and magazines

The E-Series ships with three magazines: a flush-fit 12-rounder for deep concealment, a 15-round extended, and a 17-round full-length mag. That’s genuinely useful. Carry the flush mag in the gun and the 17 as your reload, and you’ve covered both concealment and capacity without buying anything extra. Twelve-plus-one from a gun this size would have sounded like fiction ten years ago.

Reliability and optics

The reviewer ran Federal, Blazer Brass, and Magtech through it with zero malfunctions. That’s one gun and one test, not a fleet study, but it lines up with the E-Series’ reputation so far, and reliability was the other knock on the original. The slide serrations are aggressive enough that shooters with less hand strength can rack it without a fight.

It also comes optics-ready with a Shield RMS-pattern cut, so you can mount a small red dot without sending the slide off for milling. That’s table stakes for a carry gun now, and S&W got it right from the factory.

My take

The S&W CSX E-Series micro 9mm is for a specific shooter: someone who wants single-action mechanics and a manual safety in a modern micro nine. If that’s you, it’s a legitimate carry gun now, not a curiosity. If you’re indifferent to the 1911-style controls, a striker gun may serve you just as well for less fuss, and I keep a running list of favorites in best 9mm handguns under $500. Either way, feed it right; see my self-defense 9mm ammo picks before you load it for carry.

We can get the S&W CSX E-Series micro 9mm in for you here in Roanoke, or you can browse the rest of our pistol inventory online. If you buy one elsewhere we handle FFL transfers for $40 plus the $10 NICS check. Call 817-393-4000 or email [email protected] and I’ll get you sorted.

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Smith & Wesson Model 27 vs Colt Python: two ways to build a .357

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The video above puts two of the great .357 Magnum revolvers side by side: the Smith & Wesson Model 27 and the Colt Python. The comparison and the range time are the creator’s work, so give it a watch and judge for yourself. What I can add is the view from a gunsmith’s bench, because these two revolvers answer the same question in very different ways. I’m Lance Rankin, owner of Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas.

The Model 27: built like a vault

The Model 27 descends directly from the Registered Magnum of the 1930s, a revolver premium enough that buyers registered each one with the factory, Depression economy be damned. It sits on Smith & Wesson’s big N-frame, and that was the whole point. When the .357 Magnum cartridge arrived, it needed a frame with enough steel to contain it, and the N-frame’s thick forcing cone and stout lockup spread that abuse where it does the least harm.

That’s why the Model 27 carries the workhorse reputation. It’s a revolver you can feed full-power magnum loads for decades. The weight that makes it a commitment on the hip is the same weight that makes a long magnum session civilized.

The Python: Colt at its most ambitious

The Python arrived in 1955 and looked like nothing else, with its ventilated rib and full-length underlug under Colt’s famous royal blue polish. Beneath the looks was a great deal of skilled handwork. Fitters tuned each action, and the bore was slightly tapered toward the muzzle, an old accuracy trick intended to improve the bullet’s seal on its way out. That hand labor is why Pythons cost so much, and eventually why Colt struggled to build them profitably. The gun went in and out of production before the modern reissue brought it back.

The trade-off shows up on benches like mine. Colt’s older action design can drift out of time under a steady diet of heavy magnum loads, and vintage Pythons with worn timing are a known quantity among revolver smiths. That doesn’t make the Python fragile. It makes it a gun that rewards mechanical sympathy.

Details worth knowing

The two even rotate in opposite directions: the Python’s cylinder turns clockwise, the Smith’s counter-clockwise. Balance differs too. The Python’s underlug makes it distinctly muzzle-heavy, which many shooters like for hanging steady on target, while the Model 27 balances closer to the hand. Neither is wrong. Ten minutes of dry handling will tell you which one your hand prefers.

Both guns exist in modern production now, in stainless and in various barrel lengths, and the current guns shoot well. The vintage examples are where the collector money lives, and prices reflect it.

Which one?

If I’m buying one revolver to shoot hard with magnums for the rest of my life, it’s the Model 27, and it isn’t close. If I’m buying a piece of American gunmaking at its most ambitious, the Python is the answer, and shooting it gently is no great sacrifice. For a lot of collectors the honest answer is eventually both.

Vintage revolvers turn up online constantly, and buying one from out of state just means shipping it to a local dealer. Here’s how buying a gun online works, and my shop handles transfers for $40 plus $10 NICS. If you land an old Python or a pinned-and-recessed Smith and want its timing and lockup checked before you shoot it, that inspection is exactly the kind of work I enjoy. Call 817-393-4000 or come see us in Roanoke by appointment.

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Ruger LCP Max with the Magpul grip: the pocket .380, improved

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Pocket pistols involve a trade most people don’t think about until their first range session: the smaller the gun, the harder it is to shoot well. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and I’ve handed a lot of tiny .380s across my counter. Ruger’s LCP Max with the Magpul grip module is the version of this gun I’d been waiting for somebody to build.

Why the LCP Max mattered in the first place

The original LCP sold by the truckload because it disappears in a pocket, but nobody ever called it pleasant. The sights were vestigial, and most shooters could only get two fingers on the grip. The LCP Max fixed a surprising amount of that. It has real, usable sights and more capacity in the same footprint, and the recoil became manageable instead of punishing. It moved the platform from a last-resort gun to a legitimate defensive pistol.

What the Magpul grip adds

The weak point that remained was the grip itself, and that’s the part Ruger handed to Magpul. The EHG grip module is the whole story of this variant. The texture gives you actual traction instead of the slick factory feel, and the extended profile gives your fingers somewhere to live. On a gun this size, purchase is everything. When your hand isn’t fighting to keep hold of the frame, the sights come back faster and the little gun stops feeling like it’s trying to escape.

Magpul knows polymer as well as anyone in this industry, and it shows in the details. The stealth gray module looks sharp too, though I’d buy it in any color for the texture alone.

The honest limits

It’s still a pocket .380. A compact 9mm is easier to shoot well and hits harder for about the same money, and if you can dress around one, that’s my usual recommendation. My home defense handgun guide and my handgun guide for women both get into why shootability beats size on paper. Where the LCP Max earns its keep is the wardrobe problem: gym shorts, or business clothes that hide nothing. The gun that’s actually in your pocket beats the one sitting home in the safe.

Two notes from the bench. First, ammo choice matters more in .380 than in bigger calibers, because the short barrel gives up velocity. Buy a quality defensive load and test it in your gun. Second, pocket carry means a pocket holster, full stop. Something rigid has to cover that trigger guard, and it keeps the pistol oriented the same way every draw.

Where it fits

If you already carry an LCP Max, the Magpul grip version improves the one area the gun genuinely needed it. If you’re shopping for your first pocket pistol, this is the configuration I’d point you toward. Carrying in Texas? My Texas LTC guide covers the licensing side. We do online orders with local pickup by appointment here in Roanoke, and I’m at 817-393-4000 if you’d rather talk it through before you buy.

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