SHOT Show Archives

If you rely on an AR or shotgun for home defense, but can’t figure out a way to keep it secure from unauthorized access while readily available if the unthinkable happens, look no further. GunVault has introduced a new secure storage safe that will fit discreetly in most closets, yet the gun is instantly available with GunVault’s patented No-Eyes keypad or fingerprint scanner.

I’d heard all the claims before and, like you, I was skeptical about working scanners and keypads when under duress. No, they don’t put the gun immediately in your hands, and I know for a fact that a single second seems like forever in a life-and-death situation, but I’ve had great success when testing the GunVault’s systems in the past. They are fast and extremely reliable.

Even if you have a gun safe capable of swallowing your entire collect, you might consider this unit for your safe room. Constructed of 14-gauge steel in the body, with 12-gauge steel in the door, the four-foot-tall unit weighs 80 pounds. To ensure burglars don’t simply make off with the entire thing, it is predrilled for securing to the floor. Width is 10 inches and depth is 17 inches, enough to store any tactical shotgun or AR with a 30-round magazine. An interior shelf can hold spare magazines, a flashlight or ammunition.

Several years ago Remington returned to its handgun-producing roots with the introduction of
the R1. This year the company continues to evolve the lineup, adding the R1 Carry to an already
proven stable of .45 ACP-chambered 1911s. Subtle changes, built upon the reliability of a five-
inch barrel, make this handgun more carry friendly than the R1 or R1 enhanced. Bad guys don’t
knock off at dusk, so the R1 Carry remedies target acquisition in poor lighting conditions by
using Novak sights with a tritium Night Sight up front. Speed of presentation is critical, but a
handgun’s sharp edges love to hang up on covering garments at the worst possible moment. With
a de-horned frame and slide, the R-1 Carry minimizes that concern. Purchase in the worst of
environmental conditions is enhanced with 25-lpi checkering on the beavertail backstrap safety
(with memory bump), frontstrap and mainspring housing. Cocobolo grip panels and skeletonized
adjustable trigger provide the kind of look it’s a shame to keep concealed, but the lowered and
flared ejection port and target crown speak volumes about Remington’s dedication to reliability,
regardless of “fashion.” Overall length is 8.5 inches, rate of twist is 1 in 16 inches and it ships
with a pair of magazines–one seven-rounder and a bumper-padded eight-round version. I’ve
never considered an ambidextrous safety ideal for 1911 carry, but it’s there for southpaws.
MSRP is $1,299.

AK fans concerned Mikhail Kalashnikov’s 90th birthday was going relatively
unnoticed got a special surprise from Arsenal at this year’s SHOT Show. Only
500 rifles in the MTK90 Jubilee Series are going to be produced and they are
selling fast, despite a $3,500 price tag for the Silver Edition and $5,000 for the
Gold. Built on hand-selected rifles, the right side of the Silver version’s receiver
has engravings with a silver-colored filling that highlight Kalashnikov’s birthday,
35 years of the AK-74 and even include Kalashnikov’s signature. The trigger,
bolt carrier and several other components of the rifle are also polished to a silver
finish. The Gold Version is virtually identical, except gold coloration is substituted
for silver in the embellishments. Four hundred Silvers will be produced and 100
Golds. With its presentation box, certificate of authenticity and more, it’s a great
way to celebrate this special anniversary. If you’re more interested in an everyday
shooter, the company’s new SAM7R1 is chambered in 7.62×39 mm, comes with
a cold-hammer-forged barrel and a hot-hammer-forged receiver that makes it
stronger and longer-lasting than many of the other AK variants available today.
Prices are running around $1,350. And if you’re ready for an AK pistol, Arsenal
rolled one out at SHOT in the SAM7K. It’s also chambered in 7.62×39 mm, has
a 10.5-inch barrel, hard-chrome-plated bore and chamber and is only 20 inches
long. It tips the scales at eight pounds (without a magazine), but with an MSRP of
$1,199 it’s much lighter on the pocketbook, anyway.

If you’re looking for a tank-tough optic for your AR that’s ideal for 3-Gun or CQB work,
you need to take a look at the new Razor HD Gen II 1-6×24 mm from Vortex. At 10.1 inches
in length, weighing 25.2 ounces, the riflescope uses a 30 mm tube and employs extra-low-
dispersion glass to improve resolution and color clarity. At one power, the field of view at 100
yards is 115.2 feet and at six power it narrows to 20.5 feet. Maximum windage and elevation
adjustments are 110 MOA and the illuminated red dot subtends .5 MOA. Adjustment is .5 MOA
per click. There are 11 different reticle-brightness settings, with off positions between each and
the second-focal-plane reticle uses a single CR 2032 battery for illumination. The company lists
the MSRP at $1,899, but you’ll notice in the video the street price may be less. If you love long-
range work, but realize over-magnification isn’t necessarily an advantage, you’ll appreciate the
new Viper PST 2.5-10×32 mm FFP. With the EBR-1 MRAD reticle in the first focal plane, your
range-estimation problems are solved. Built on a 30 mm tube from aircraft grade aluminum, this
riflescope is also battle tough. This one, however, has a parallax adjustment knob, target-style
turrets for quickly dialing in your dope and features 10 brightness settings for the illuminated
reticle (which also runs on a CR 2032 battery). It weighs 18.8 ounces, is 12 inches long and has a
pretty awesome MSRP of $899. Field of view at 100 yards is 47 feet and 10.9 feet at 2.5 and 10
powers, respectively. Adjustments are .1 mil per click.

Some things are too awesome for words. Thankfully we have a video so you can hear how
quiet the CondorSS really is. OK, I know it’s pneumatic, but this new model from Airforce
Airguns delivers the kind of punch that Lewis & Clark relied upon during its Corps of Discovery
Expedition for food from its air guns. Despite the lack of report, it delivers a .177-, .20-, .22-
or .25-caliber pellet at velocities that range from 600 to 1,300 fps. To put things into perspective,
that 1,300 fps mark exceeds many velocities delivered by .22 Long Rifle cartridges. With the
CondorSS, a variable-power setting allows the shooter to dial up or down as needed and speed
produced will naturally vary by caliber and projectile weight. Power for this single shot rifle
is provided by a rechargeable tank in the buttstock. It comes with an 18-inch Lothar Walther
barrel to ensure accuracy and if you want to really reach out, a bipod can be mounted. With a
two-stage trigger adjustable for position, a rail for mounting iron sights or a magnified optic
and color choices in racy red, blue and black, this non-noise polluting gem is one of the SHOT
Show’s real sleepers. Add the fact that you can come home from work and let some steam off
while punching paper at BB-gun defying distances or neutralize those annoying pests without
your neighbors “discovering,” and I can’t wait to bring one of these babies home. MSRP is $717
to $737, depending on tank-attachment system requested (QD or spin).

The one creature we haven’t seen on HBO’s “True Blood” is the now ubiquitous Zombie, but if they show up this year you’ll have everything you need with this silver bullet and wooden stake kit from Coonan Arms. You probably already know Coonan from their fabulous .357 Magnum semi-auto handgun, but that begs the question, “where do you go from a highly successful .357 Magnum pistol?” Apparently the answer is, hijack the zombie craze at the height of vampire and werewolf fame and fortune, and produce a very clever and extremely silly silver bullet kit, replete with its own wooden stake. Vampire Diaries just started back up, and it won’t be long before True Blood is back, but its a good thing Twilight is over because this would be too much for those sparkly sissies. The silver bullet pack includes real silver plated bullets, not solid silver, which makes the pack only $39.95, and the bullets really do shoot. They are moderately hot .357 Magnums. Look on the accessory page on the Coonan website.

Also check out new finishes from Coonan in Cerakote, as well as a new ported model. This is a great gun that we reviewed some time ago. If you have been thinking of getting one, there are a lot more options these days, and this is a gun that is always the center of attention everywhere you bring it anyways. Check out Coonan Arms for 2013.

This is a groundbreaking new rifle from Savage made for the new .17 Super Magnum **RIMFIRE**. You may not have heard of this cartridge yet, but it shoots a 20 grain bullet at about 3,000 feet per second, at .17 caliber of course. This means fairly flat shooting at devastating velocities out to 300 yards and beyond. What makes this particular gun special is that it is from Savage, the leader in out of the box accuracy in bolt guns. They have incorporated several centerfire bolt gun features into this rimfire rifle, at a rimfire price of $349. As ammunition gets more and more expensive, that you can go shoot prairie dogs, crows or even tin cans all day at 300 yards on the cheap may make this the biggest story of SHOT Show 2013. Bill is correct here in the video when he says that Savage won’t be able to make enough of these guns. If you are a new gun owner and you bought a pistol or an AR first, this would be your ideal second gun that you will never outgrow and that you will still enjoy shooting in 30 years, with your grandchildren. Another great rifle idea from Savage. Get yourself on the list with your local dealer, because supply may not catch up with the demand in 2013.

Glock has the luxury of being able to sell pretty much as many guns as they can make, but they still have a finely tuned ear to consumers and LE in order to figure out exactly what is the next Glock that will make you happy. This G30s is a compact .45ACP with a 10 round magazine and slightly thinner grip, and the unique feature is that they have put a G36 slide on it, making it thinner and easier to conceal. They can use the thinner slide because the .45ACP is not a particularly high pressure cartridge. It was designed just after the turn of the last century and is known as the ultimate manstopper in a handgun. A lot of us prefer to carry it, but the guns can be bulky. This new G30s reduces the footprint of Glock’s 10 round 45ACP gun, making it a great choice for concealed carry. Glock also has a few new Gen 4 guns this year, and they hope to release this 30s in Gen 4 as well as the G36.

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.

The biggest secret in rifleslings is the Kodiak Sling from Limbsaver. You probably know this company for their damping technology and sights in the archery business, but they have secretely created the best riflesling ever made as well. You have seen our Kodiak sling on the Ambush Rifle we use all the time in our hunting articles with our guide Dwayne Powell at Kissimee River Hunt & Fish, and now they have come out with a lighter version that uses nylon instead of rubber for much of the non-bearing surfaces. Something as simple as a riflesling isn’t usually a big story, but these slings have a handle on them, made of rubber, so you have a firm place to hold the weight of your arm up as you walk along with your rifle. They sell these at most big box stores and a lot of stocking gun dealers, so stop and try one. Also check out the new AR accessories. They have a front grip with a riflestock profile. Neat stuff from Limbsaver for 2013. Note that if you order the Kodiak online, the “crossbow” sling is the same as the rifle sling and is easier to find.

In a gunfight microseconds count. Turning on a laser can cost you a bunch of time, so several of the laser companies have come up with different ways to turn on the laser instinctively, without a separate thought operation required. Viridian’s take on it is the Tac-Loc holster, which they call an Enhanced Combat Readiness technology. Marketing terminology aside, the holster actual turns on the laser as you draw it, so you don’t have to put your finger in a certain place and press, and you don’t have to hold the gun in any particular way for the laser to go on. We have not tested this in house, so this Media Day at the range outing was the first we got at it in actual use. If you have been wondering how it actually works, it works great, but be aware that not all of their units fit all of the holsters. If you already have a Viridian green laser, make sure it actually fits the Tac-Loc holster before you buy one. We should have more stuff from Viridian this week. This is kind of a follow up to the introduction at last year’s SHOT Show because we haven’t actually gotten our hands on one over the course of the year.

Ok, before you beat our host Julie Mac up for calling this a rifle (er, twice), please keep in mind that Julie is a regular shooter here in Las Vegas, but she has never been exposed to shotguns. This was her first encounter out at Range Day, and though she shot that .375 Cheytac from APO at 500 yards and dinged the steel, she was afraid to actually shoot these three barrel shotguns. Ron Norton from Chiappa was such a gentleman for not correcting her and just saying SHOTGUN loudly twice, so do him a favor and go buy one of these silly guns. Three barrel shotgun and rifle combination guns, called Drillings, were very popular right after WWI in Europe, but I personally have never seen a three barrel sidexside+middle like this before. The Triple Crown and Triple Threat may do very well in the market because of the sheer simplicity of firing 3 rounds of 12 gauge in a home defense situation. At about $1,600, they aren’t cheap, but leave it to Chiappa, makers of that nifty, different, and great shooting Rhino revolver, to come up yet again with everyone’s new favorite oooh and aaah gun at the range.

Over 100 years later the Colt 1911 soldiered on in 2012 by capturing a huge new service contract for the United States Marines for 12,000 pistols, made by Colt Manufacturing in Hartford, Connecticut. We tried to get a review gun as soon as the news dropped, but the gun wasn’t available for the consumer market. Colts are generally tough to get anyway, because consumer demand is so high for them, yet on the handgun side, Colt is not a huge company. It is with great pleasure that we got the news here at SHOT that Colt will be producing 80 of these USMC guns per month for the consumer market. The price will probably be somewhere in 2nd mortgage land, but hey, it’s a Colt and it will only go up in value. These are actually going to be Colt Custom Shop guns, so they will be tuned and slicked up as well. Nobody thought to bring any Hoppes to the Colt tent at Media Day so we only have dirty pictures of the gun, but this is the actual gun they will be selling to the public. Eighty guns a month isn’t going to be enough, but at least we’ll have a shot a getting one. It takes a little while to process the 2nd mortgage anyway.

The small gun market has exploded over the last few years with a vast expansion of concealed carry permit holders across America. One of the very first companies to perfect the extremely small gun was Kahr, and they carry 6 patents to that effect, many of which have actually been defended successfully in court. They are extremely high quality firearms, but the P series is very expensive, prohibitively so for many features. For this reason, Kahr started making some of their smaller guns in a C series, to bring down the overall cost. They did this by simplifying the manufacturing process, eliminating some of the more complex operations that only added marginal performance. These C series guns are still better performers than most of the other small guns in the market, at about the same price. Here at SHOT 2013 we take a look at the new CW380 and CM45. All Kahr firearms are manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts.
This video also covers Magnum Research, which is owned by Kahr. They make their guns in Minnesota, the most famous of which is the Desert Eagle. Over the years this gun has obviously been a movie gun favorite, but it has also become very popular with gun nerds and handgun hunters. For 2013 Magnum Research will be selling a 10″ barrel for their guns, in .50 and .44, and they do swap out easily with your standard barrel. Magnum Research will also be offering a porting service for their guns. For $200 they will make it look a lot cooler.

New from FNH-USA for SHOT Show 2013 comes a long slide FNS in .40S&W made for competition. It should be priced along the lines of the existing FNS guns, but it will come with three different sight configurations for different rule sets of competitive shooting. The sights you see in the video here are the standard, drift adjustable “Svigney” sights that are also meant for holster carry. A lot of LEOs and belt holster CCW guys have come to prefer a long sight radius for daily use. When the front and rear sights are farther apart it gives you a lot more of a precision alignment for a slightly longer shot. Our test of the FNS was stellar, so much so that people thought it was some kind of PR piece from the company itself, but it wasn’t. There are a lot of great black pistols out there, but if you put your ear to the ground for range chatter, the FNS has been at the top of the pack since its release.

Also check out the new Ballista from FNH. This is one of those very high end sniper rifles that has come out of the government’s competition to replace the M24 and M40. FNH has brought their entry to the civilian market at under $7,000 in .338 Lapua and two other calibers, probably .300 Win. Mag. and .308. FNH makes more than half of all US Military arms, so you can never question that the gun will be of the highest possible standards. We hope to get one of these Ballista rifles in this year for a full review.

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.

You may have spotted a big black rubber shooting block in some of our recent articles. It is made by this company, Range Systems. We have found it a great replacement for sandbags and traditional cloth and metal rests because you can leave it outside. This SHOT video appointment was an education in the other stuff that the company makes, and it is far more advanced than a simple shooting block. Range Systems makes whole bulletproof rooms for law enforcement training, as well as gunsmith and home range traps, all based on the same thick rubber technology as our humble little range block. Now Range Systems is even making steel target systems, check out the video.

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.

You may ask, “Who is Meopta?” It isn’t an optics brand that you don’t bump into much when you walk into a big box store, yet worldwide Meopta is considered to be in the top tier of optics, with the likes of Zeiss and Leopold. Meopta is an 80+ year old company based out of the Czech Republic that has made optics and related products for the likes of NASA. Over the last few years, after opening offices in the US, Meopta has gained a reputation in America for building some of highest quality and well thought out optics products in the market. Meopta designs, develops, and builds its own products, including their own reticles, glass, and tubes for their scopes. No outsourcing.
At SHOT, they introduced several new rifle scopes and two new holographic sights. In the video our host Julie Mac takes you through their flagship hunting scope, a 3.5-10 x 44 lightweight big game model that is extremely light and extremely high quality.

A year ago all the buzz in guns was about the Springfield XDS, a six round pocket .45ACP that proved to be a game changer in the concealed carry world. Everyone has asked over the past year, will the XDS be available in 9mm and .40 S&W? For SHOT Show 2013, Springfield answered for the 9mm, and the answer is yes. The XD-S 9mm is the same dimensions as the XD-S .45ACP, but it holds ?? more rounds. We got to shoot the gun today with Rob Leatham, and as little as the .45ACP kicks in the XD-S, the 9mm is even lighter shooting. Check out our Media Day at the Range video with our host, Julie Mac. No word yet on an XD-S .40, but the 9mm is going to be a big hit. Hopefully we’ll get one soon for a full review.

Bullet design is tricky. On the one hand you want to bullet to open up, but you also want good penetration. Add in some barrier materials, like clothing, wallboard, glass and car doors, and the dynamics of how a bullet behaves after it leaves the gun gets a little squirrely. The classic hollowpoint works great in gelatin, but shoot through a jean jacket and flannel shirt into the same gelatin and it will sometimes fail to open up. Law enforcement test ammo in the real world every day, and though many “carry rounds” perform very well overall, they sometimes fail on specific barriers. The FBI designed an Ammunition Protocol Test to address these issues, and this Hornady Critical Duty ammunition was the result. The “heavy duty” bullets are designed to stay together through common barriers, including heavy clothing, drywall, plywood, sheet metal and glass, yet they also open up and don’t over-penetrate. You may be familiar with the Hornady Critical Defense line of carry ammo, and Critical Duty is the next step up for the challenging needs of law enforcement and personal self defense in an urban environment.

In the blitz of demand for Ruger’s polymer pistols, it is easy to forget that America’s gunmaker has the widest line of firearms in the industry. For SHOT 2013 Ruger has introduced three new bolt rifles based on the reliable M77 platform. All three guns have a new heavy caliber muzzle brake from Ruger called the “radial-port” muzzle brake that is said to reduce recoil significantly, and we can’t wait to get one of these guns in to give them a try. The Ruger Guide Gun has an estimated street price of about $900 and is available in several .30 caliber magnums up to .375 Ruger. The new Hawkeye African with the radial-port muzzle brake is available in calibers up to .416 Rigby and is expected to be the same price. Both of those guns have open sights installed, and it appears there will be a left hand in .375 Ruger. The Magnum Hunter is currently available in only .300 WIn. Mag. at $829 expected street price, and comes standard with a Hogue overmolded stock. We also expect a few new Ruger #1 rifles this year, including maybe a .284, but they weren’t ready for the show. There is also a new lightweight American we hope to get to later in the week. Expect an exciting year for Ruger hunting rifles, made in America by Americans. This is a sneak peek with our host Julie Mac from Media Day at the Range, SHOT Show 2013.

Add this to the old “you learn something new every day” column. If you are wondering what is that strange logo on that Colt, it is the logo of Colt Competition Rifle, and Oregon based company licensed by Colt to make extremely accurate and reliable versions of their AR-15 platform rifles. This was our most interesting story today at Media Day at the Range. These rifles are made with special Colt parts, made to exacting tolerances that are too tight for a military specification M4. Priced from about $2200 to $3500, the guts of the guns, in both .223/5.56 and .308/7.62, are the same regardless of price, and each rifle is hand crafted by one gunsmith regardless of price. The price difference is a function of what components go on the guns, and almost every part you see on these guns, from the forends to the scope mounts, are custom crafted by Colt Competition Rifle in Oregon. No rifle leaves the factory until it is tested on a bag with a human shooter at under 1 MOA using factory ammo, and the laminated target comes with the rifle. Several of the actual competition guns at the show were tested with the inexpensive steel cased Hornady Steel Match. These are real Colts, not just licensed copies, and Colt engineers sign off on all the mods built into these stock rifles from Colt Competition Rifle. This is a really cool story and a pleasant surprise. Check out our Media Day at the Range with our host Julie Mac on a few of the ten models this year from Colt Competition Rifle.