What’s Happening At Langdon Tactical Technology

If you ask what the best tactical shotgun made today is, 95% of those in the know will tell you it is, hands down, the Beretta 1301 Tactical. If you ask what the best 1301 is, you will hear one answer: Langdon Tactical.

I have carried a 12-gauge on duty for decades and still argue that it is more lethal and versatile for most CQB missions in urban areas and when assaulting vehicles than the AR platform. I’ve tested every major brand out there repeatedly with different types of shells, barrel lengths, and configurations. For my money, the straight stock 1301 is the crème de la crème, although the pistol grip model does have its place. I could tell Ernest Langdon was a kindred spirit when it came to the scattergun from his work on 1301s and A300s. When I got offered a private tour of the factory, I dropped everything and booked it for that same week because I couldn't wait to go pick the brain of a living legend.

Langdon Tactical Technology doesn’t have a storefront, so you have to get an invitation to see where the magic happens. The factory is a quiet, unassuming building in an industrial park. The front door opens to a small desk and then into a large communal area that is used for lunches, meetings, group announcements, talking with industry partners, and general business. Off to the side are a few small offices, and in the back is a large “L”-shaped warehouse where the real work gets done. Well-lit workbenches are set up neatly, with about a half dozen stations for craftsmen with their tools, piles of parts, and rows of guns to work on. Other people are handling phone calls, checking internet orders, and packaging guns and parts for shipping. The high ceilings and bright lighting give an air of efficiency and professionalism. Amongst all the hustle is a mixture of talking, laughing, and camaraderie as good-natured teasing mixes with non-stop work.

Ernest met me in the communal room as he was just finishing up a lunch meeting and greeted me with a firm handshake in his huge hand. He smiled easily, taking time to listen and answer questions while proudly giving the tour and pointing out some of his favorite guns as well as new projects that he hopes to introduce this year. Racks of labeled drawers and shelves with bins had everything in its place and a place for everything.

After the tour, I sat down with Ernest and talked nonstop about his history, opinions, new products, and where the company is headed. He showed me the latest creation from their sister company, Langdon SkunkWorx. It is the Labyrinth cable management system that helps hold the cord for the remote switch for your light. They first developed one that acts as a heat shield and sits on top of the forend on a 1301 Tactical.

This modification is more important than most people realize. First, if you have a home-defense weapon of any kind without a white light mounted on it, you are way behind the power curve. You need to be able to positively discern between an intruder and your teenager sneaking back into the house after curfew. A bright light does more to quickly blind and disorient a bad guy than almost anything else available. Anyone who has tried to run a gun in one hand and a light in the other quickly sees the advantage when the light is mounted to the gun.

The problem comes when you put the light on a shotgun. Push-button switches are no longer a viable option. Try resting your thumb against the back of a push-button switch and then firing off a few rounds. If it doesn’t break your thumb, it will definitely jam it, and whoever is with you will get to hear you recite every swear word you’ve learned since birth. Lights on shotguns need a remote pressure switch.

The next problem is that there is a cable that hangs off and inevitably catches on everything until it is broken or yanked off. I have seen a lot of different cable management systems of varying quality, but never one that is as quick to use as the Labyrinth or holds the cables as flat and out of the way. I thought the texture would chew up my hands, but it turned out to be a smoother feeling than expected. The 1301 heat shield is available for the Beretta Patrol (1301 and A300), the Magpul Zhukov, and the Midwest Industries forends. SkunkWorx realized they had a good thing and quickly transitioned to putting the Labyrinth system on Picatinny and M-Lok covers to be used on ARs and similar rifles.  

Next, Ernest showed me the Beretta PX4 with the Langdon Tactical Technology package. I admitted, coming from a law enforcement background, that I knew nothing about the PX4. Ernest laughed and said Beretta was a little late to the .40 pistol market with the PX4, and the market was already saturated. When everyone transitioned back to 9mm, the PX4 was simply lost in the herd for U.S. sales but did very well overseas. He said he gave it a try and was amazed by how well-built they are, and the compact version became his EDC gun for many years.

Unlike most polymer pistols that utilize the Browning barrel tilt action, the PX4 has a rotating barrel. Langdon Tactical Technology PX4s come with a variety of options for both full size and compact that can include a flat bar trigger with lighter, smoother take up and shorter reset, bobbed or match style hammers, heavier barrel, extended mag release, rubber Talon grips, compensator, extended magazines with flared magwell, G-model decocker levers, NP3 coating and a cut for an optic that can have a built-in rear sight that sits in front or behind the optic, depending on your preference, as well as a variety of red-dot sights and a Surefire or Streamlight light.

While the PX4 is relatively unknown in the U.S., the Beretta 92 is nothing short of iconic. Langdon Tactical Technology takes this classic and has a number of packages with lots of options for improving it as a race gun, home defense pistol, EDC or simply a showpiece that makes your friends drool.

While Langdon Tactical Technology and Beretta have always gone hand in hand, Ernest also has a lot of love for HK pistols, including the P30 and, more recently, the Springfield Armory Hellcat, both of which are available from Langdon Tactical Technology with performance packages including trigger work, sight plates, various iron sights, stippling and Talon grips. The Hellcat, in particular, has been explosively popular at LTT as Micro 9s have become the cornerstone of preferred concealed carry firearms domestically.

Ernest said he hates to tease upcoming products because sometimes they simply never materialize due to unforeseen circumstances, but he did say they were looking hard at another Heckler & Koch pistol line, as well as packages for another Beretta pistol line. I wanted to give him a laundry list of my favorite guns that I would love to see Langdon Tactical Technology offer improvements on, but in reality, it takes a lot of time in designing, testing, redesigning, and hard work to make improvements that are both desirable and bullet-proof. Langdon Tactical Technology's lineup is significant but certainly not overwhelming, and it never will be. Sacrificing quality for quantity isn’t on their radar. Also, if you have a favorite gun but want to tweak something, Langdon Tactical Technology still does custom work for the true aficionados.

Ernest spent some more time talking about his favorite guns for different roles, current trends he has noticed, and some of the knowledge he wished he could impart to the consumers. Some of my favorite nuggets of wisdom we discussed include these seven:

1) The new 6.8 x 51 (.277 Fury) round for the military is likely to cause unanticipated maintenance issues due to the extremely high pressures of the round.

2) When diagnosing gun problems, look at the ammunition, magazine, and shooter, in that order.

3) Red-dot sights are independent of iron sights and may not line up perfectly; that’s OK.

4) Guns require lube—the right amount and in the right places.

5) Consumers desire more micro-sized guns in smaller calibers like .32 ACP, which are easier to shoot than .380 ACP.

6) Manufacturers introducing pistols that cannot mount a red-dot have missed the boat.

7) Tactical shotguns have gone from being replaced by the AR to a new resurgence due to the quality and dependability of new semi-auto shotguns.

In the end, I kept Ernest way past quitting time before I reluctantly let him go home, but I could have sat and talked guns all evening. I am looking forward to testing and evaluating as many of their products as I can, right here in the Hook & Barrel LTT INSIDER pages. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to glean a little of the wisdom from a quiet but influential pillar in the firearms community. Even if Langdon Tactical Technology never introduced another new product, its legacy has already been forged.

For more information, visit langdontactical.com.

Be sure to check out this short Hook & Barrel video of the author chatting on location with Ernest Langdon, and check back soon for more Langdon Tactical Technology content.