AND THE WINNERS ARE…

Welcome to the fourth annual edition of Ballistic’s Best Guns Of The Year Awards issue. Let us nutshell the mission for first-timers. We utilized 10 three- to five-man groups of firearms evaluators to testfire the newest and the best guns within 10 specific gun categories. Every gun in every category was awarded points based on nine criteria. All guns within a category get ranked based on the total points awarded. The maximum final score is 45. This year we had no ties. Ten categories, 10 total winners.

Our panel of experts reviewed a whopping 80 guns which included everything from handguns to semi-auto rifles, bolt-actions for both competition and hunting, shotguns, and even the ammo and optics you’ll need to run those guns to the fullest!

In this issue, we rounded up the best sub-$1,300 5.56s for those who don’t want to break the bank, as well as a great collection of high-end ARs. Garrett Lucas and his team put 10 full-size fighting pistols up against each other at the range, and they tackled the ever-growing compacts category, too! Mike Detty visits Gunsite Academy for an M1911 showdown, and new for this year, we had a great team in Florida led by Martin Topper rigorously test seven of the newest large-format 9mm pistols.

Non-traditional 12 gauges were handled by Robert Jordan, while Jay Langston’s team in Tennessee put 10 bolt-action hunting rifles to the ultimate test. And don’t miss Ballistic’s precision guru Sean Utley and his dynamic group of long-range shooters going way deep with an eclectic mix of nine target master.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your copy today!

COMPACT KINGS – A dozen new and tiny titans fight for the Ballistic’s Best crown

CLASH OF THE BEASTLY NINES – Large-format pistols from the best in the business take the tactical challenge

TROPHY SHOOTERS – These top-10 bolt-action beauties are born to hunt, but guess which is our king of the mountain?

SCATTERGUN ROYALE – An awesome mix of 11 non-traditional shotguns blast it out in the Arizona heat

HIGH-END AR-15s – Five semi-automatics take to the desert arena to shoot for the top-tier award

STOCKPILE – New and notable shooting gear used at the 2021 Athlon Outdoors editorial Rendezvous event