The 2nd Best Gun Podcast

The Guns.com crew laid hands on a lot of new guns at the SHOT Show 2026 Industry Range Day on Monday, and Alex and Chris are here with the tea on the guns they liked and loved.

With the chill in the air and coats out of storage, Alexander and Chris sat down for the latest 2nd Best Gun Podcast to discuss the phenomenon of "winter carry" and whether you should bother to rotate your EDC.Here are some timestamps if you want to jump ahead: 0:25 Breaking out the white tape for the FALs 2:19 Winter carry? 3:01 I still don't know why we did that 5:10 The mighty Minx 6:19 That's...

Dialing it back to the 1960s in this week's 2nd Best Gun Podcast, Alexander and Chris weigh in on Mr. Eugene Stoner's most oft-forgotten child. While Stoner will always be remembered for the AR-7, AR-10, AR-15, AR-18, and SR-25, his Model 63 has slipped through the cracks. But why? Here are some timestamps if you want to jump ahead: 00:30 The Father of the Black Rifle 01:28 Forgotten Weapons call...

On this week’s 2nd Best Gun Podcast , we hang out with Logan Windfeldt, head of product development at Maxim Defense . Maxim has been cooking up some really cool stuff in the past couple of years while looking to strike a tender deal. Although details of the deal are scant, the resulting technology and how they have implemented it into their latest guns are impressive. Logan talks us through a cou...

On this week's 2nd Best Gun Podcast, we got to hang out with the president of Maxim Defense and find out all the company lore, which may or may not include ninja grappling hooks. Maxim started with just one employee in 2014 —Michael Windfeldt, who is still at the top of the ever-growing company a decade later —and we find out how this small shop became a household name and one of the biggest disru...

On this week's 2nd Best Gun Podcast, we had a sit-down with GunTuber Johnny Q and dug into his backstory – which is surprising. If you don't already know, Johnny Q has millions of followers on YouTube, but the journey of how he got there is interesting and brings up the overall question of why we buy guns. Here are some timestamps if you want to jump ahead: 0:15 Kind of a big deal. (That started w...

How the ideal firearm worthy of your daily routine has developed over time is the subject posed to our in-house EDC nerds on this week's 2nd Best Gun Podcast. Alexander and Chris sit down in the studio to weigh in on how the human-packable gattable has evolved. Here are some timestamps if you want to jump ahead: 0:40 The Great Equalizer 1:30 Ugg and M'gugg were strapped (all the time) 3:40 Somethi...

How best to clothe and feed your favorite light machine gun is the subject of this full-auto heavy installment of The 2nd Best Gun Podcast. 00:34 "Like" in the Last Samurai, right? 02:20 Those pesky Danes 04:50 Banana War escapades 05:20 Three Germans walk into a BAR... 07:22 These LMGs are meant for walking (fire) 08:30 That's me Bren gun! 09:50 Alex nerds out on commie guns or something 10:40 I...

Join Chris and Alexander for a tour through history as they discuss their favorite guns from the World War II era. 01:10 Also-ran guns 03:20 Super sleeper guns 05:40 Paging Mr. Johnson... 07:01 Chicago typewriters 07:40 H&R does SMG 11:01 Marlin's unsung sub gun 13:21 Again, Mr. Johnson... 17:39 They just loved those little guns, man 22:40 Vut about a side-loading 8mm machinegun, ja? 25:15 The...

On this episode of the 2nd Best Gun Podcast , Alexander and Chris sit down to argue about the need and place for new calibers on the market. With cased cartridges available for over 200 years – Swiss gunsmith Jean Samuel Pauly is generally credited with inventing the first fully integrated self-contained cartridge in 1812 – literally hundreds of calibers have come and, in many cases, gone. So, is...

The guys sit down to talk about the stubby guns that some people love, some people hate, and some people just love to hate on. Bullpups undeniably have a place in the world of defensive guns, even hunting and precison guns can make a case, but where people stand on those issues couldn't be more polarizing. We're here to talk about some of the bullpups we've been shooting lately and to break down a...

On this episode of the 2nd Best Gun Podcast , Alexander and Chris sit down to talk about that seemingly unkillable of firearms actions: the lever action "cowboy gun." As American as the chili dog and Rocky road ice cream, the lever gun is over 175 years old and should be obsolete, but has instead become an enduring classic that has, perhaps, never been more popular.  01:00 It's all very, very Amer...

On this episode of the  2nd Best Gun Podcast,  Alexander and Chris sit down and hash out what they feel are the worst guns they have come across in their travels. The guys have been in the business for a minute, so they have seen a lemon or three. Ironically, some of these are so bad they are cool, and have become wildly collectible and sought-after. And remember, this is all in the eye of the beh...

On this episode of the 2nd Best Gun Podcast, Alexander and Chris sit down and talk about their favorite historical burp guns. Pistol-caliber submachine guns have over 100 years of history, pre-dating the NFA by a generation, and the guys are true fans. Uzi does it! 0:18 You want I should go get a Babka, huh? Maybe a submarine sandwich? 1:50 Why the sub gun? 4:50 Failure to learn from history 8:10...

On this episode of the 2nd Best Gun Podcast, Alexander and Chris delve into the world of modern compensated and/or ported handguns and what makes them so suddenly popular. 1:01 Comped Pistol History 1:58 The Best Punisher is Dolph Lungren 3:20 Downsides of Comped Pistols 4:30 Flash! (And we don't mean Barry Allen) 7:59 More Powah! 9:40 Try it before you buy it 11:10 The Upsides of Using a Comped G...

On this episode of the 2nd Best Gun Podcast, Alexander and Chris delve into some of the most interesting rare guns that will become available to savvy collectors through the new Guns.com Auctions process. Why Auctions? 0:46 Ahead of its Time for 1915 2:00 Unloved Smith 7:30 The Boyko Gun 11:10 

The guys dive into the guns they've carried on this week's episode of The 2nd Best Gun Podcast. It's not all glitz and glam when it comes to picking a carry gun and the guys talk about all the choices they've made over the years, both the good and the bad. Stay tuned for some surprise picks towards the end and let us know what you think. What should've made the list? 0:44 Hog legs, Roscoes, and Si...

In this inaugural episode of the The 2nd Best Gun Podcast the guys sit down to discuss the ramifications of the Big Beautiful Bill and what that means for the rest of 2025. They talk suppressor ownership now and what it could look like in the future due to the way things are worded. If you need an update on everything BBB from a firearms standpoint, the guys got you covered.  0:57 The Bad Old Days...