I saw something incredible today when I met Cabot Guns CEO Robert A. Bianchin. His company may not be a household name among gun enthusiasts, yet, but this niche manufacturer builds some of the finest 1911s I have ever held.

These are not old-school 1911s you shoot every weekend, or toss into the back of your trunk irreverently. They’d handle it and be utterly reliable, but you just wouldn’t do that to these handguns.

These are, as Bianchin put it, a functioning piece of precision art. These 1911s are developed and made by engineers, to critical tolerances, using standards typically reserved for the aerospace industry or in a nuclear lab…I’m not kidding. They are also utterly reliable.

If you remember back several months ago we did a photo essay on the “no drill” scope mount from Kwik-Site for the 1903 Springfield. Well they happened to be exhibiting right around the corner from us in the dungeon at SHOT Show this year and wouldn’t you know it, they made a freakishly large rotating auto-pistol to demonstrate their new scope mount. It is a pistol mount that attaches to that front rail on our autopistols that very few of us actually use for anything (but that looks cool so we all want one).
The mount is meant to hold what most people call a “scout” scope, otherwise known as a “long eye relief” scope, which just means you don’t have to put your eye close to see a usable sight picture. Long eye relief scopes are used in the scout rifle setup, like that Ruger Scout Rifle, or the Springfield M1A Socom, or you can use them on a pistol. Some pistols, like .22 caliber target pistols, actually have a scope rail, as does the Desert Eagle and many hunting revolvers. But if you want to try to shoot your semi-auto pistol at distance, and you’d like to be able to use a scope, this unique mount is a really unique answer. Nobody downstairs could have missed it, so it is strange that you don’t see them as the front page story on SHOT 2013 coverage. The heck with that Colt USMC pistol. This is the big story! Just look at the size of that gun in the booth!

Eotech, the world leader in holographic sights, this year has a new sight made for the elusive 300 Blackout, also known as the 300 Whisper. This caliber is interesting because it has two loadings. One is subsonic, slower than the speed of sound, for use with suppressors, and one is supersonic, so there is a [...]

Last year we saw Colt regain its status as the king of the AR-15/M-16 type rifle. Our Colt articles on both the 6920/6940 Patrol rifles, and the .308/7.62 Colt 901-16S were among 2012′s most popular here at GunsAmerica Magazine & Blog. The nice thing was that you could actually get the guns, and tens of thousands of you did. We have some good news for the 901 purchasers out there. According to “inside information” at the Colt Defense booth at SHOT Show, those proprietary swapper parts should be out this year, and they will finally come with the gun. Everyone who already has a 901 will be able to get them either free or cheap directly from Colt, hopefully by March is what we were told. If you have not yet read the 901 article and watched the video, it is a really cool gun that could transform your perspective of the AR-15 platform.

So what’s new for Colt this year? Mostly they are coming out with a bunch of specialized configurations and colors in the same rock solid 6920/6940 guns, and some of them are going to be only available from specific Colt distributors.

If you know innovative 1911s, then you know Para USA, formerly Para Ordnance. It has taken the 1911 places where it has never been before, including double-stack, high-capacity magazines and even gave it an innovative Light Double Action trigger.

A few years ago the Canadian-based company moved operations to Charlotte, North Carolina, and at the SHOT Show I saw five new pistols it is introducing. Here’s a look at what Para USA will be rolling out, and they range from a concealed-carry version to a hunter’s version.

Live birds ahoy! If you went stumbling around the corners of the basement at SHOT Show 2013 you may have come across a trailer mounted giant clay pigeon machine Lazy Susan. There is almost no other way to describe this monstrosity called the Crazy Quail. Made of solid galvanized steel, it comes in sizes that hold from one to four bird throwing machines. The machines you see mounted on this demo unit at the show are made by Apex, but it accommodates just about any thrower. The machines rotate on a spinning plate, so you can throw several presentations at one time, and the whole system is portable, so one unit can be used for several locations at the same club.

The premise of the Crazy Quail is to get more birds in the air for clubs trying to make money. More birds equals more rounds equals more ammo, equals a profitable club. If you run a sporting clays club, the Crazy Quail is affordable, and throws up to 160 birds per minute. The quad configuration holds 1632 clays at one time. That is about 65 rounds, on one loading.

Inside-the-waistband carry, or IWB, is considered one of the most discreet concealed-carry methods, making a T-shirt and shorts possible while carrying in places like my sunny Southern California. Even larger weapons can disappear on your body when quietly tucked into your waistband.

Versa Carry has been coming up with a lot of innovative ideas on ways to secure a handgun inside the waistband, and its latest is a small J-frame revolver setup.

Taurus has always been renowned for its top-notch warranty. Basically, the gun is guaranteed for life, and the warranty goes with the gun from owner to owner.

This year, instead of heading off in some radical new direction, Taurus refined an old favorite. The PT111 has long been known for its small size and respectable firepower, so Taurus decided to push the envelope by reworking its striker-fired PT111 9 mm into the PT111 Millennium G2, part of its “Carry On” series for the concealed carry (CCW) market. The PT140 was also reworked into a similar PT140 Millennium G2 in .40 S&W. If you take a look at the gun pictures, it is head and shoulders better looking than the original Millennium guns, and we hope to get one in to test in hand. Taurus seems to have a new focus on making fewer different guns better, and this gun could be a pleasant surprise at an affordable price.

SIG Sauer’s booth is always busy, but after fighting through the crowds this year I discovered the longtime rumors were true. The Exeter, NH, company has introduced the P227—a double-stack semi-automatic in .45 ACP.

The gun struck me as more of a P226 when I first saw it, but when I looked down at the label, sure enough, it said “Sig P227, .45 ACP.” I picked it up and thought, “Boy, I would have never thought this was a .45.”

The gun has all the classic looks of the P226 line. Its milled stainless steel slide is mated to an aluminum-alloy frame and an accessory rail allows the mounting of lasers or weapon lights. The slide’s Nitron finish provides a businesslike look that’s attractive, and, it’s a SIG, so the double-action trigger pull is better than most. The usual decocker is there as well. The gun has mildly aggressive texturing on its one-piece polymer grip, with no screws to dig into your hand. Capacity is 10 rounds in the flush-fitting magazine, but a 14-round extended magazine is available.