GunsAmerica Blog Product Reviews – Accessories and Gun Related items

Inteliscope has an interesting product here at SHOT show 2014: a smart phone holder that is designed to mount to a rail on your rifle or pistol. The newest version is the Inteliscope Pro, a universal mount that will hold most smart phones. At this time, the apps are available for iPhone and Android. While we were initially skeptical about mounting a phone on the top of a rifle, we had to see it for ourselves. And we were converted. We’ve seen the light.

As someone who reviews firearms for a living, I can sometimes mistake going to the range for actual work. I’ve got cameras to line up, lighting to consider. When I get down to shooting, I’ve got a lot on my mind, much more than I used to when I went shooting with friends and isn’t always fun. Slide Fire is here to remind me of the good times, when shooting made smile. They brought out a mess of guns to the Range at SHOT Show 2014: AKs, ARs, even some tricked out Ruger 1022s. They also brought out cases of ammo and a full crew to keep the magazines full. The result was the most fun I’ve had at the range in a long, long time.

Crimson Trace is at the forefront of laser design, so it comes as no surprise that they work hand-in-hand with gun manufacturers. Case in point – when Remington announced their new R51 sub-compact pistol, Crimson Trace already had a laser sight for it. It may not be a marriage made in heaven, but it was made in the USA, and it’s a perfect match. The new Crimson Trace LG-494 mounts on the front of the R51 trigger guard and looks like part of the gun. Lasers that are hung on picatinny rails tend to look like an afterthought. Trigger guard lasers blend in with the shape of the gun and look like they belong. The LG 494 is no exception. The CT trigger guard laser sight includes an extension that covers the lower part of the trigger guard and incorporates a pressure switch which falls naturally beneath the shooter’s fingers when gripping the weapon. Grip the gun to fire and the laser comes on from the pressure of your fingers. You don’t have to even think about it.

Whether you are looking for modern polymer frame pistols or the enduring Model 1911, Kahr has you covered. When it comes to a self-defense carry gun, you have to find a balance between concealability and function. Kahr has done a remarkable job with their slim, lightweight CT45 and CT40. These two guns achieve excellent concealability through the use of a single stack magazine, narrow frame and clean, snag-free design. However, Kahr didn’t do it at the expense of shootability. Both guns feature 4” barrels, and a full length grip holding seven rounds of either .40 S&W or .45 acp. With the stopping power of these two calibers and the accuracy of a 4” barrel, eight rounds should be enough to win the fight. A polymer frame, stainless steel barrel & slide assembly and an MSRP of $449 makes for a winning combination.

MOJO Outdoors has been a leader in the motion hunting decoys for a number of years. This year they have upped the game for the aggressive turkey hunter. The Scoot and Shoot is a full bird decoy that works as a sort of hide or blind for the hunter. It is based on their Boss Gobbler decoy line but incorporates a ground stake and handle. The idea is to be able to creep and crawl up to a Tom or flock and then hide behind this decoy. When a Tom sees another male bird closing in on his lady friends, he will get aggressive. Once the protector of Jenny and the hens closes on the hunter/decoy, it is time for a close-in kill shot. The video below is from MOJO TV and shows the Scoot and Shoot in action. This is aggressive and exciting turkey hunting at its finest.

One of the biggest hits of the show so far has been the Tac-Con trigger group from Tactical Fire Control. With all of the media and industry insiders blowing through ammo as fast as magazines can be loaded, the range can get a bit loud. Yet above that constant pop-pop-pop would come that signature braaaap of a rifle firing very fast. And it didn’t take long to find it. The booth was full of people trying to get a look at something they couldn’t even see.

What does a silenced .50 BMG sound like? I have no idea. I should, but we weren’t allowed to shoot it. The range where we were gathered today for the 2014 SHOT Show media shoot wouldn’t let us shoot it. So we had to sit back and look at it, which was almost as rewarding. The rifle they brought (complete with crates of .50 BMG) is an M107A1 with a QDL suppressor. Part of what makes this ambitious suppressor unique is the two-port brake that is bolted onto its end. This helps reduce the recoil, while still cutting the sound signature, and it can be removed to further reduce the visible signature as well. The QDL slides over the muzzle brake and can be installed or removed in seconds.

It’s Range time – anytime, with the LaserLyte Training Tyme system. Learn shooting fundamentals and firearm safety and handling, and have great fun doing it – all without firing a single shot. What’s more, you not only don’t need ammunition, but you don’t need access to a range. Your game room, basement or garage is a perfectly good place to use LaserLyte products. Having said that, let me also get my “good sense practices” or “nanny” lecture out of the way: Always treat shooting training seriously: choose a proper “safe direction” of fire and follow the golden rules of firearms. Just because we are not using live ammo does not mean we are not creating habits!

Steel targets are the backbone of competitive shooting sports. Once a club invests in a good set of steel targets, it opens up a great deal of income-producing events that you just can’t do with paper. The problem with steel is that it is expensive, so buying it right the first time is critical. There are a lot of target companies, and Grizzly Targets, out of Tampa, Florida, contacted us to test one of theirs, a $279 three-paddle auto-reset called the “Trifecta.” Grizzly laser-cuts their targets out of AR500 steel and galvanizes the final product. They claim that the targets “can withstand almost anything,” so we chose the M1C Sniper Garand that we made back in the Garand series from a commercial Springfield Armory gun. The key to this test was to simulate abusive misses. We beat the target up pretty well, but at no time did the target cease to do its job. However, after repeatedly battering of the middle of the posts, the bottom of the posts, and the bolt area, you can see that if you buy a Grizzly target for casual match shooters, you probably will have some maintenance after a match.