The Top 5 Stories From SHOT Show 2015 and The Full Reviews

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas? Hardly…

SHOT Show. For those of us in the business, there is no bigger circus than SHOT Show. The annual gathering of gun and gear manufacturers draws massive crowds to Las Vegas in the middle of January. 62,000+ people gather for an industry-only look at 1,600 manufacturers–15 acres of guns.

We’ll be heading back out at the end of this week, and gearing up to bring you the best of what we find. Over the next three weeks, GunsAmerica will be distilling the experience and pumping out the content. So stay tuned.

This week, though, I thought we’d take a look back at last year’s show. Below are the top five stories from our 2015 coverage. But the quick glimpses we get in the booths in Vegas, or the scant few minutes we get on the range at Media day, is just the beginning for us. Over the past year, we’ve had the chance to live with these guns. So here’s the follow-up.

 #1 Standard Manufacturing’s DP-12

Buy one on GunsAmerica: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=dp-12

Read our first impressions: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/the-dp-12-double-barreled-pump-shot-show-2015/

I’m not ashamed to admit that I got this one wrong. When I found the DP-12 at range day, I had already made up my mind. I thought it was going to be another novelty 12 gauge. I approached the gun hesitantly. Jacob Epstein, on the other hand, is a student of the 12 gauge–both serious and novelty–and he couldn’t wait to get his turn at the trigger. And when I did finally shoot it, I was sold. This is an overbuilt bullpup pump that shoots like a semi-auto.

Read the full review: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/dp-12-review-a-functional-double-barrel-bullpup/

The best part about the DP-12? I’m torn. The gun is rock solid. It doesn’t feel like a plastic shotgun–something you can’t say about some of the gun’s competition. And the capacity is respectable, too. But compare it to the typical pump gun and you begin to see the appeal. For every one shot you get from a typical pump, you have two from the DP-12–just as fast as you can work the trigger. And because of the ergonomics of the gun, recoil is manageable.

#2 The 10mm GLOCK 40

Read the SHOT Show article: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/new-glock-40-shot-show-2015/

Buy one on GunsAmerica: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=glock%2040

The GLOCK 40 appeals to most of us who like raw horsepower. The long slide on the 40 maximizes the energy usage of the 10mm round, and the additional weight makes the pistol easy to control.

Click on the video below to get Gunny’s take on the G40. He swears it’s hell on pigs, and we have a hunt set up that will allow us to test his assertions. That’s coming up, though, and we’re looking back.

 

Read the full review: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/bigger-is-better-glock-40-gen4-mos-10mm/

Now the GLOCK 40 has completely lived up to our expectations. This is a big gun that shoots a big round. If you like .357s, I’d highly suggest you give a 10mm a test drive. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s a gel test video we’ve put together for an article we’re working on.

#3 The CZ Scorpion

Read our full SHOT Show write up: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/new-cz-scorpion-shot-show-2015/

Buy one on GunsAmerica: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=scorpion

While we’re waxing poetic about guns we fell for immediately, I’ve got to throw in this plug for the Scorpion. This CZ was a genuine surprise. We managed to pick up this gun just before SHOT, which gave us the luxury of looking more closely at the other guns CZ had brought to SHOT Show. We would have had a hard time getting to the Scorpions they’d brought to Vegas anyhow–the Scorpion was a fan favorite at the show. The crowd around the gun never let up.

So what has time taught us about the Scorpion? There’s not much more to report. Our initial impressions held pretty true. We still want a brace on the pistol–or a stock for a full-blown SBR. The pistol version isn’t as easy to control as it could be. But that’s true of every big pistol. God made humans bipedal for a reason; so we can shoulder rifle stocks. I firmly believe you should be able to put a stock on a GLOCK 40 if you want to–to hell with the idiotic regs.

#4 Battle Arms Development

Buy one on GunsAmerica:https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=battle%20arms%20development

Read the write-up: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/battle-arms-star-wars-themed-ars/

One of our biggest stories from SHOT 2015, at least in terms of popularity, had surprisingly little to do with a gun. Not that Battle Arms Development doesn’t make a mean gun. They do–I’ve been told. They sure-as-hell know how to get the fans into their booth, though. The Star Wars swag was well worth the effort it takes to find B.A.D., who gets shelved in one of the smaller rooms in the basement of the convention center. They even had a First Order helmet way before anyone had really seen the redesign (pic after the jump).

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And even though we didn’t get to shoot one of the Star Wars guns, we were treated to Episode Seven–and I’d like to think that just as the work of Lucas’s minions has inspired the creative team at B.A.D., so too has B.A.D. influenced the newer generation of dystopian future-past armorers. Some of the new Star Wars guns are much more modern than the old Sterlings and C96s.

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#5 LWRC’s Epic Subgun

Read the write-up: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/lwrcs-new-45-acp-sub-gun-shot-show-2015/

Buy an LWRC at GunsAmerica:  https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=lwrc

LWRC’s .45 ACP sub-gun was easily the sexiest gun at the show. The first question everyone asked was “when can I get one?” And there were no easy answers. The SMG-45 was like the little sister of a girl I dated in high school (fun to look at, but 100% off-limits). LWRC had brought the gun to show off, not knowing it would overshadow everything else in the booth.

But there was is a lot more to LWRC, and even though some of the other guns weren’t as attractive, they all have amazing personalities. I’ve even taken a couple of them to the range, and if I ever settle down with one AR, it will likely be an LWRC.

My go-to AR right now is this Tricon: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/lwrc-tricon-review/

And if you like bigger guns, this .308 is a knockout: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/gun-review-lwrc-r-e-p-r-20-308-sniper-model/

 

The Biggest Story of 2015 that Wasn’t at SHOT?

Rumors die hard. As all of the gun writers and manufacturers began to fill baggage claim at McCarran International, the talk was of a single-stack 9mm. Everyone knew it existed, at least the prototypes, but no-one this side of Austria was willing to comment. When all of the media gathered Monday at the range before show officially opened, GLOCK unveiled the 40 we discussed earlier.

“Single stack 9mm?” they replied. “What single stack 9mm?”

I bet the GLOCK crew got fed up with answering questions about a gun they weren’t legally allowed to talk about then. They pulled up the curtain at NRA. Even though the launch was a good four months after SHOT Show, it was still the biggest new product launch of 2015. That’s how GLOCK rolls. They’ll give you a four-month head start and then beat the pants off you without even trying.

Buy one on GunsAmerica: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=glock%2043

The review: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/new-glock-9mm-single-stack-glock-43-hands-on/

The improvements: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/3d-printed-mag-extension-for-the-glock-43-sintercore/

The GLOCK love: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/top-5-reasons-to-purchase-the-new-single-stack-glock-43/

The flip-side: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/top-5-reasons-not-to-purchase-the-new-single-stack-glock-43/

The quiet side: https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/suppressing-the-glock-43-xcaliber-firearms/