Gear Reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.