SHOT Show Archives

When looking for precisely made ammunition with consistent performance, many people turn to Black Hills. In fact, Black Hills supplies all of the 5.56 match ammo to the US Military’s Service Rifle Teams and counts a host of gun manufacturers among its customers. The company’s mantra is precision made ammunition at a reasonable price. No other ammunition manufacturer makes as many calibers as Black Hills. That’s why we were so eager to see what was new for 2014. Black Hills has teamed with Sierra Bullet Company to make two new rounds. They both feature Sierra Match King tipped bullets for increased bullet coefficient. That means better aerodynamics for a flatter trajectory and more retained energy downrange. The 5.56 round uses a 77 grain tipped bullet, where the .308 uses a 175 grain tipped bullet. We also asked about ammunition supplies for the coming year. Watch the accompanying video to see what they had to say.

When you think of Hornady, the first thing that comes to mind is cutting-edge ammunition and reloading supplies. What you don’t think of is gun safes. However, Hornady’s newest product happens to be just that, although not any run-of-the-mill gun safe. Hornady has developed a single firearm safe for a dresser drawer, table, truck or wherever you want to secure your gun but get to it in a hurry. There are a lot of similar safes out there with one big distinction: You don’t have to touch this safe to open it. Using RFID, or radio frequency identification technology, Hornady has brought to market a safe that opens instantly as you’re reaching for your gun. Rapid Safe, as they call it, uses three forms of RFID devices to open the safe.

Trijicon has a loyal following with its tactical/combat sights, and the new VCOG 1-6×24 is sure to be a popular addition to the lineup. VCOG stands for Variable Combat Optical Gunsight. It’s the result of demands from Trijicon users who wanted a variable power scope with bullet drop compensation for the .223, .308, and 300 BLK rounds. The bullet drop reticle is marked for each specific round. In other words, you must specify for which round you want the ballistics information when you buy your scope. The reticle is a first or front focal plane reticle. This means that the reticle changes size when you zoom so that it maintains the same proportion with the target. A front focal plane reticle provides better information for estimating distance to the target. Its weakness is that the reticle is thinner and possibly more difficult to pick up at the lowest power when transitioning to a target. Trijicon overcomes this by providing a battery-powered lighted reticle, therefore giving you the best of both worlds. MSRP will be $2,380 when the VCOG goes on sale in May. Check out the VCOG and ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight) in the accompanying video.

Generally speaking, a company introducing a new 1911 wouldn’t make much of a stir. That’s not the case with the EAA 1911. This is the first polymer frame 1911 made by any company, and that’s got a lot of people talking. If you’re thinking, Whoa! Wait a minute. A plastic 1911? Isn’t that an oxymoron? From what we saw, no. Polymer actually works quite well with this platform. First of all, only the frame is polymer. The slide rides on a pair of steel rail systems. Second, all the accessories for the 1911 fit this gun as well. So you can use your favorite grip panels, laser grips, sights, and so forth.

The trans Atlantic relationship between US gun manufacturers and the Belgian company FNH began in 1897. John M. Browning took a number of his designs to FNH, where they were put into production. Today, you’ll find an FNH plant in Columbia, SC, where many of the company’s guns are manufactured. FNH introduced two new guns at this year’s SHOT Show – the FN 15 Rifle and the FN 15 Carbine. Although the company built these guns for law enforcement and the military for many years, these are their first semi automatic variants of the M16 and M4 that FNH has built for the commercial market. The guns both have hard anodized aluminum alloy lowers with carbon steel, chrome lined barrels.

Turnbull Manufacturing Turnbull Manufacturing, located in the bucolic community of Bloomfield, NY, in the Finger Lakes region, is known far and wide for their exquisite restorations. The company does museum restorations as well as jobs for individuals who had a favorite gun damaged in a fire or bought a rare find suffering from the effects [...]

Crossbreed specializes in concealment, whether it’s on your person, in your car, or on a bicycle. The company is best known for its line of in-the-waistband holsters and for a modular system that utilizes the versatility of Velcro to attach holsters to duty belts, RAM mounts, flat surfaces, even handlebars. The newest product, however, is targeted to the special needs of women. The most common types of holsters simply don’t work well for women. However, just about every woman carries a pocketbook, which would be a good place to conceal a firearm. The problem is that if you drop a gun into a purse, it sinks to the bottom, making it difficult to draw quickly and consistently. Crossbreed has addressed that with yet another variation of their modular holster system. It consists of an L-shaped Velcro-lined panel to which the holster attaches. You can place your gun in whatever position you want for a quick, controlled presentation. Take look at it in action in the accompanying video.

The acronym FLIR stands for forward looking infrared. So does the company FLIR Systems, which until now has focused on thermal imaging systems for law enforcement and the military. Last Tuesday, however, the company announced its first thermal imaging system intended for the civilian market. If you’re not familiar with thermal imaging, it works by using temperature differences between various objects in the visual field to produce an image. The images that are produced are remarkable—you can see through haze, smoke, rain, even foliage, day or night. The big obstacle for us civies has been the astronomical prices. Fortunately, as in other electronic devices, prices are coming down.

Range Systems, like the name says, specializes in shooting-range systems like shoot houses for room clearing/hostage rescue types of training, as well as live fire ranges for civilian and military customers. The company’s latest product is a series of targets designed for the night vision crowd. The amazing thing about the targets is that they radiate in the infrared range of the spectrum where night vision and thermal imaging devices see, and they do it without any external power supplies. The targets reflect radiation from the night sky to make the targets more visible than heated targets. They’re also easier to set up and more resilient to damage than heated targets. Range Systems has targets for personnel, animals and even vehicles, catering to the law enforcement/personal defense folks as well as hunters and the military.

Hodgdon Powder, a leader in the reloading market, is a family-owned business in Kansas. It’s been at the forefront of producing top quality products for the reloader for the past 67 years. Innovation is part of the company philosophy, which brings us to their newest powder, CFE Pistol. CFE Pistol is an offshoot of CFE 223, introduced last year for rifle cartridges. They are both spherical powders, which means easier metering, especially when using a progressive press. The powder contains an additive Hodgdon calls “Copper Fouling Eraser” that does just what it says, reduces copper fouling.

Fiocchi was just as frustrated as the rest of us when it came to the company’s inability to keep up with the rising demand for ammunition last year. The bad news is that 2014 is expected to play out much the same. Maybe by the end of the year the increased production investment from Fiocchi and the other major ammunition manufacturers will catch up with demand. In the meantime, Fiocchi did have some good news to report. It is a new line of ammo called “Canned Heat” in reference to the nifty sealed cans, complete with desiccant, that the ammo comes in. These cans have a plastic top a la Tupperware, or clamp-on lids that you can use to reseal them. It’s not only more convenient than cardboard boxes, but also keeps your ammo clean and dry.

Looking for a new carry piece? Wait until you see the Bondhus CL380. This collapsible pocket rocket is about the size of a credit card and as thick as a cellphone in a case. The clockwork-like action looks more complex than it actually is. Simply fold open the wings, rock up the trigger mechanism, secure the whole contraption between your fingers, and you’ll have two barrels of .380 ACP and a laser ready to roll.

Ruger stopped making the venerable Red Label over-and-under (OU) shotgun two years ago. It has seemed like a long time to all the Red Label fans out there. This gun is beloved by birders and clays competitors alike, known for its ruggedness, quick handling and accurate shooting — the quintessential American OU. Rejoice my friends; the Red Label is back! So what took so long? What took so long was a complete re-engineering of the gun to make the best use of new materials and modern manufacturing methods. I’m here to tell you that it was well worth the wait. Pick one up and you’ll know instantly how true that is. The New Red Label has been re-balanced, making it livelier in the hand. The inner workings are improved and the recoil reduced. This is all around a new and improved Red Label. But I’m saving the best part for last – by using modern manufacturing methods, they’ve not only made it a more refined shotgun, they’ve also reduced the price. MSRP of the new Ruger Red Label is $1,395. Take a look for yourself in the attached video.

If you’re looking for a value-priced AR-15, Stag Arms is a must see. The company’s been building US-made ARs for the last decade. And when I say US-made, I don’t mean US assembled. Stag Arms makes every part, except for the plastic parts and a few springs, right here in the US of A. The plastic parts and springs are made here too, just not at the Stag plant. Stag, known for building left handed ARs for all us lefties, just announced two new left-handed guns. So wipe that smug smile off your face, righties. We got one too. The new rifles are the left-handed versions of the Model 3T and 3T-M Series. These ARs are chambered for 5.56, meaning they can shoot both 5.56 and .223. Guns chambered for .223 can’t fire 5.56. But you already knew that. The difference between the two series is in how the guns are outfitted. The 3T has polymer DiamondHead front and rear sights, the 3T-M has aluminum DiamondHead sights. The 3T wears a mil-spec collapsible stock, the 3T-M, a Magpul ACS, and so forth. Check it out in the video. It’s much better to see it with your own eyes. Plus Julie’s a lot easier on the peepers than my blather.

I stopped at Medford Knife and Tool (MKT) at the end of SHOT Show, when many exhibitors were already tearing down their booths. The Medford booth, however, was surrounded by fit young men with short haircuts, talking about and ordering knives. There are two things I have to say about Medford knives: (1) they’re expensive – in the $400 to $1,200 range, and (2) they’re worth it! How can a knife be worth that much? That’s what I asked the owner and designer, Greg Medford. Greg is a prior US Marine, airshow pilot, airplane builder and master level Martial Arts and CQB instructor. Medford Knife is the culmination of all this experience.

Glock is rocking the show with two new pistols. The first is their all-new G42. This is a sub-compact .380 auto – slim, compact, and super concealable. In fact, it’s the smallest Glock ever introduced. They’ve combined the small size of the .380 auto platform with Glock dependability to give you a gun you can count on when the chips are down. You can see the new G42 here. The other new Glock is their G41 Gen 4 — what they call their “practical/tactical.” This is in essence G21 internals and dimensions with a G41 slide. The longer barrel and slide help reduce muzzle flip while providing a longer sight radius for more accurate shot placement. The combination delivers an improvement in weight distribution, resulting in a well-balanced .45 ACP pistol for competition, self defense or duty carry. With a 13-round magazine, you can be sure of bringing plenty of fire power with you. Weight is a respectable 27 ounces empty. The trigger weight is a typical Glock trigger weight of 5.5 pounds. In all it is a very nice configuration for a lighter, better balanced, full size .45.

Otis’s Ripcord has been out for a few months. If you’ve pulled one of these things through a gun barrel, then I may be preaching to the choir. They’re fantastic. The Ripcord does in one pass what a lot of brushes and mops together only wish they could do. The fit is tight. The pull itself takes a bit of muscle. But the results are really astounding.

Unless you’re living in a dumpster, you’re probably aware of the TV program Duck Dynasty. It’s about the Robertsons, the first family of duck hunting, who have endorsed the new Mossberg Duck Commander series of shotguns. So whether or not you agree that Phil’s right to free speech was violated when he was kicked off the program, you know they at least have good taste in shotguns. Like so much of their gear (and clothing), the Duck Commander series comes in Real Tree cammo. Not only are they great 12 or 20 gauge autoloaders, every gun also comes with one of Willie’s red, white and blue bandanas. Then there’s the MVP patrol Rifle series. I can’t tell you if they endorsed the bolt action MVP Patrol Rifle, but I would be surprised if they didn’t have a few around the house. The MVP comes in .308 Winchester and, get this, accepts either M1A or AR style mags! How cool is that. Finally, we had to check out the new Mossberg Center Mass Laser. This laser mounts to the side of your shotgun and projects a circle of laser dots with one dot in the center. The farther away the target is, the more it opens up, just like an actual shot pattern. What a great accessory for your home defense gun. Bet Silas has one of those on the gun under his bed.

Taurus has their new concealed carry revolver here at SHOT show, and it is turning heads. This new little pistol is called The View and it’s easy to see why. A substantial section of the gun’s frame is made of clear Lexan. The rest of the frame is aluminum alloy. But don’t worry about the strength of frame. The titanium cylinder and stainless steel lined titanium barrel are going to take most of the punishment.

Sig Sauer, long known for its innovative firearms designs, is moving into an entirely new arena and doing it in a big way. The Sig P320 is striker-fired pistol. That alone would be news enough for a company that has a dedicated following of shooters who like exposed hammers. But no. Sig is upping the ante. The Sig P320 is modular. One gun can be changed up to various frame sizes, or slide lengths, or calibers.

Smith & Wesson is still the undisputed reigning revolver champ. Its standard production revolvers are better than most of the competition’s tricked out top end guns. Its Performance Center guns are even better, and much more expensive. The company just introduced a new 9mm revolver in their Pro Series line that is meant to offer more custom features at more manageable prices.

While Colt is well known for their early revolvers, Government Model 1911, and various ARs, the company also happens to build very high quality bolt action rifles with the hunter and competitor in mind. These are the kind of guns you use when you want to reach out and touch something, whether a game animal in the wide open spaces or a target on the 1,000 meter range. The new rifles Colt brought to SHOT Show are an expansion of their popular M2012 series. As in the earlier versions, the new guns come with matc- grade fluted barrels and Timney single-stage adjustable triggers. The new model designations are M2012MT308T and M2012LT308G/M2012LT260G. It’s not really as complicated a naming scheme as it appears. The model is M2012, the 308 and 260 refer to the calibers, the MT and LT indicate how the gun is configured, and the T and G designate…OK it is as complicated as it seems. But that doesn’t detract from the exceptional quality they bring to the game.

When we stopped at the Benelli SHOT Show booth, three guns caught our eye – the Benelli ETHOS shotgun, the Franchi 3 1/2” Intensity shotgun and the Uberti 1873 Lever-Action Competition rifle, a trio of exceptional guns from the Benelli family of companies.The heart of the ETHOS shotgun is Benelli’s Inertia Driven System. Proven in nearly half a century of use in the most demanding competition and field applications, this simple but extremely effective system provides the operator with a number of benefits. There are only three primary parts – the bolt body, inertia spring, and rotating bolt head. Simplicity translates to reliability. It never needs adjusting and can handle a variety of loads from 3 ½” magnums to light field loads. The low mass of the moving parts makes for a fast cycle time, giving you quicker follow-up shots. And the locked bolt keeps powder residue in the barrel for a cleaner action. The AA-Grade walnut stock was not only gorgeous, it also housed a recoil reduction system. The ETHOS wore a light weight carbon fiber vent rib incorporating an interchangeable front sight so you can use the best color for the day’s hunt. Red, green and yellow fiber-optics are included. Take a look at this fast-loading, fast-shooting and beautiful-to-behold example of the gun maker’s art.

The Pro-Custom 18.9 isn’t your typical 1911. It might look like its ancestors, but it has a distinct difference. The double-stack magazine holds 18 rounds of 9mm. While I’m hesitant to call that an advantage, it does have its benefits. If you’re looking for a fast race gun, you won’t have nearly as many reloads with the 18.9 as you would with a .45 ACP 1911 (even one that’s a double-stack). And because it is a 9mm, you can still get a decent grip on the gun.

After four days drooling over the smorgasbord of guns at SHOT Show, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to look at some bigger gun safes! I found just what the doctor ordered at the Liberty Safe booth. I’m telling you, if it has to do with shooting, chances are it’s here. Wish you could walk around the show with us to take it all in, and that’s why we do these videos – to share as much as we can with you. For the sake of full disclosure, you should know that I already have a smaller Liberty safe at home. It probably makes me biased, but at least it’s based on years of personal experience. Liberty makes great safes at a fair price, and the customer service is excellent. The safe we videoed is the Liberty Fatboy 64, the number one selling safe in America. In addition to the great paint job, this safe is set up to hold 64 guns. The tops of the middle shelves can be lifted to store more long guns or left in place to store handguns, valuables, important documents and so forth. You won’t have to worry about thieves walking out the door with it either. It weighs 915 pounds. Liberty has an optional Safe Alert security device which monitors your safe when you’re away. It will send an alert directly to you if anyone tampers with it. And get this – the monitoring service is free! Liberty sells 25,000 Fatboys a year because it’s not only a great safe, it’s a great value. Check it out.

Noreen Firearms has a new AR patterned rifle. A new AR. Right. We’ve heard that a lot at SHOT show. You don’t even have to be here in Vegas to hear someone yammering on about a new AR. But Noreen’s guns are a little bit different. It’s an AR all right, but not a 15 or a 10. An AR 10 isn’t a big enough platform for this big boy. We are talking a true long-action AR. One big enough for 30-06.

Steel targets are usually not all that exciting. You lug them to the range, set them up and make them ring, but that is about it. Enter Action Targets. They have a number of targets that bring more action to your range time. From their flip-around Dueling Tree to the Rimfire Spinning Jack, Action Targets provide for more interactive reactive targets. But they have upped the game with what might be the coolest Action Target to date.

Perazzi knows how to make a hell of a good shotgun and brought a plethora of them to SHOT show this year. The most exciting one for most of us is the new MXS series of scatterguns. These are Perazzi’s new, more “affordable” line of sporting shotguns. Affordable is subjective. In order to keep the costs down, Perazzi isn’t using the fanciest wood or including the beautiful engraving we usually expect from a Perazzi. That’s not to say that the wood or the finish is lacking. The MXS is most certainly nicer than you would find on your standard run-of-the-mill shotgun (if you don’t mind the large “MXS” carved on the side of the receiver).

There are countless 1911 fans who love their single action carry guns but want just a bit more versatility from the design. Lights. Lasers, maybe. Many companies have answered the call and bolt rails into their frames. But what about the rest of us, the ones who own traditional 1911s? Recover Tactical has the answer. The Grip and Rail system is a great option for people wanting to hang gadgets off their 1911: a set of grips that extend out under the trigger guard to make a rail under the long end of the frame.