Flashlights may be one of the less exciting products to talk about, but if you have ever used a 500 lumen SureFire, there is plenty to be exciting about. THEY ARE LIKE LIGHT SABERS. And now SureFire has upgraded their Defender, X400GN, and X400V flashlights from 200 lumens to 500 lumens with no loss in runtime. Also check out the video for their new “teal green” lasers, which is a pretty gutsy color to advertise in a male dominated market, specifically because according to their own SureFire research, teal green is what the human eye works best with. SureFire products aren’t cheap. These lights will be in the $500+ range, but our experience has been that when you compare relative costs to the Chinese copies, SureFire is 5 times brighter, 5 times more durable, and give you 5 times less problems, at roughly 3 times the cost. And here is an extra tip. Those red SureFire batteries that you can buy from SureFire or even on Amazon in 12 packs last twice as long as Energizers. We use them exclusively on all of our 123A devices.

For several years Federal Premium has been making a personal defense handgun round exclusively available to the LE market called HST. There is of course no law prohibiting civilians from owning this ammo, so a lot of us have been trying to get it through private LE contacts. Hearing the demand from consumers, ATK, the parent company of Federal, has decided to make the same ammo in a consumer product, available at your local gunshop. They also have developed a round in their Fusion line specifically for hunting with the velocities of an M4 length rifle, which are generally 200 feet per second or so less. This is important because expanding bullets are all optimized for specific velocities, and very few if any are optimized for the reduced velocity of the 16″ barrel that you find on an M4. A ton of us are out using M4 rifles to hunt with, and this ammo is specifically made for this, as well as for hunting with a suppressor. Suppressors are dirty, so cleaner ammo is a huge score if you are a suppressor hunter. The new MSR bullet and the cleaner powder sound like a great combination from Federal this year.

The biggest stories at SHOT this year are about technology, and the king of them is this CCAS scope from Trijicon. The story is a little hard to understand because none of us have been able to play with it yet, but it seems like you first “paint” the target with the laser, then it follows the target for you, changing the point of aim in the reticle. It also calculates weather, distance and other factors, and you manually enter the wind. The goal is go improve first shot hits, and the fact that it comes from Trijicon is probably the most important point. This is not some kind of experimental product from a potentially fly by night company. This is Trijicon, a major military contractor, and a company known for putting out battle hardened products that work and last forever. Right now this is only available to military and LE, but, assuming the politicians can’t come up with another war very soon, and after the politics calm down of course, don’t be surprised if this comes into the civilian market. It’s a cool toy that could open up a whole new type of high end competitive shooting. Also check out the new ACOGs, including a simplified .300 Blackout reticle in the 3x, and some silvery finishes for your silvery AR. Add matching shoes and a clutch and we’ll have a complete outfit. At the very end of the video there are new Trijicon Glock suppressor sights.

If you are a gun nut most likely you have already heard of Ed Brown. They are the defining 1911 by which all the other 1911 companies have been measured, because they make everything in the gun in-house, and their quality is second to none. Innovation in 1911s isn’t something many people talk about, because the gun is after all over 100 years old, but Ed Brown actually has a patent on that bobtail grip. Apparently other companies license it or buy the parts. They are also an innovator in checkering patterns, because besides new customers who want the latest and greatest, there are a ton of collectors of… Ed Brown. Because they make everything themselves, you don’t see the excuses and bottlenecks of why you can’t get your gun with Ed Brown. Delivery time has been in the half a year or so range for a while and if you order now you’ll have it by summer most likely. If you are silly in love with the 1911 and you want one of guns called “the best money can buy,” treat yourself to an Ed Brown 1911.

We don’t usually take the time to cover any of the non-gun exhibitors here at SHOT Show, but with over 1500 different companies represented, you can find everything from turkey fryers to monster trucks here. This is a camo version of a custom hotrod called a Rally Fighter, and it costs 100 grand. If you check their website, they make them in other colors too. They are made in America by Americans and they actually involve you in the building in the car if you wish. Something a little different and interesting for SHOT Show. Now we’ll get back to the guns.

Mossberg has added to their MVP bolt action rifle series by expanding their Flex line of innovative modular construction. If you didn’t see the Flex Shotgun last year, the design is unique, because it utilizes a completely tool-less system. You pop out the removal lug and pop it back in. There are no parts to lose and no parts to booger with a screwdriver. The Flex system is brilliant and has nothing by great reviews.

The Mossberg MVP rifle series is meant to be a ton of gun for the money, and that succeed at exactly that. This new MVP Patrol rifle is one of those
guns that is purely aimed strait at people needing a patrol-style bolt rifle meant to put meaningful hits downrange, at a reasonable and affordable price. You may not be in law enforcement, but this rifle is light, carries well, and comes with features you’d expect to see in a much higher priced gun.

This year for SHOT Show we have scheduled currently over 50 videos coming your way over the next couple weeks. There is a crushing amount of footage to edit for our team, and some of the spirit of the show has gotten lost in prior years. We are hoping to bring you a little more flavor of the show this year, and our host Julie Mac is having a lot of fun with it. Media Day is the day before SHOT, on Monday, and it takes place out at a giant range in the desert outside of Las Vegas for more than 1,000 members of traditional and new media. We used our video and pictures from Media Day 2012 this entire past year as guns from Media Day came in for review, but 2013 was completely different. Bone chilling cold, in the low 20s, with a 30+ MPH wind, made even taking notes nearly impossible, but it didn’t dampen the spirit of the event even a little bit. This short video is worth the time to watch it, and we still have at least half a dozen more coming on specific products this week as well. Cracked and frozen hands didn’t stop Julie from shooting every gun she could get her hands on, even a .375 Cheytac from Ashbury Precision Ordnance. It was a fun day.

If you are going to actually click through on some of these companies from SHOT 2013, Ashbury Precision Ordnance wouldn’t be a bad choice. They are the “in your face” company of long range rifle chassis. We stumbled on APO last year at Media Day at the Range, and as you’ll see from the video, they have an absolutely fascinating line pf products to learn about. The rifle chassis you see here are completely modular and interchangeable, so you can go from a bare bones starter system and upgrade it to the most tricked out model they make. They also have unique features, and many of them are patented. Check out some of the new products for this year. This is a long video, but cool stuff just keeps coming so hang in there and watch the whole thing. Ashbury Precision Ordnance makes muscle cars, that fit on your long range or hunting rifle.

It was 1526 when Beretta was pressed into service producing gun barrels for the Republic of Venice, and the fact the company continues to thrive speaks volumes about its dedication to producing quality firearms. One of the company’s introductions for 2013, the 692 Sporting over-under shotgun, continues that tradition, with an eye toward competitive shooters.

Employing a new style of barrel from the company called Steelium Plus, the forcing cone has been lengthened to 360 millimeters in a 76 centimeter barrel (prior to the development of Steelium technology, the typical forcing cone on competition barrels was only 65 millimeters). The change, according to Beretta, increases performance while reducing muzzle rise and perceived recoil. The 12-gauge shotgun is chambered for three-inch shells.