SHOT Show Firearms Wrap Up

Every year (now in Las Vegas) the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show happens. It’s the trade show for the entire shooting industry. No guns or gear are generally for sale on the floor, but more guns and gear are bought and sold then at any other time. The show isn’t open to the public only FFL dealers and Media are invited or aloud. The FFL dealers, Distributors and manufactures are doing deals the day. These are the big deals where they get promises to sell hundreds or thousands of guns to one another over the next year. I haven’t been yet, but it’s on my bucket list and I’m saving for it. I got an invite one time and I think I can get another invite for next year.

Anyways, here are some of the things I want, think are cool, and don’t know why someone made that, that came out of shot this year:

Things I want:

Strike Industries Ultimate Selector Switch – This little pack comes with 10 different selector switches to try, both single and ambi options. The best part though is once the centerpiece is in the rifle you can easily change them to try all the different configurations until you get one you like. Most others you have to take the pistol grip off every time you want to change anything. Once you get the grip off, middle piece in, and grip back on (don’t forget the spring) you can use a screwdriver and change out both sides of the safety. I’ll be ordering one of these for my newest rifle build I’m working on.

Kel-Tec Sub-2000 Gen 2 – I’ve always liked the idea of these rifles. It folds in half to pack and uses popular handgun magazines. You could match your handgun and rifle mags. The new Generation looks cooler and ads things like a sling swivel mount. I really want one as a trunk gun that matches magazines with my carry gun.

MP-44 Sturmgewehr Rifles – An actual semi auto shooting version of a Sturmgewehr rifle! I love WWII weapons and would love to own one of these. The only problem is that someone estimated the street price at about $4,000. I may not be getting one soon, but still want it.

Taurus Curve Pistol – Yes I want one to try. It looks like a cool idea. A small pocket sized gun with a light and laser built into the gun. I’m not sure how it will work with the curve part and want to try one to see. I’ll be getting one soon (hopefully) to shoot. This is something I just have to try.

Kriss Vector in 9mm – The video isn’t that good but you do get to see the gun. I would love the full auto version, but a semi would be cool and an SBR would be something I’d like too. If I ever go back to shooting and carrying a Glock I will buy one of these in 9mm. Having a long gun and pistol that take the same mags is something I really want for a gun system.

Things that Are Cool:

Standard Manufacturing’s DP-12 – A double barrel pump gun. The gun is built sort of like a Kel-Tec KSG in that it’s a bullpup with two magazine tubs and two barrels. You pump the gun once to load both barrels and then pull the trigger twice to fire two rounds. It seems really cool and I need to fire one.

Rock Island Armory Baby Rock 380 – A little 1911 that shoots a 380 ACP. Should be a fun gun to shoot and carry. It should also have a great price being from Rock Island. This is another gun that I just have to shoot.

Glock MOS (Modular Optics System) – Glock is introducing their competition guns with slides cut for red-dot optics. You could get these aftermarket all over the place but the price was really high. I think Glock will get the price down to where the gun and optic are affordable to us normal people. Now to find a holster that will fit it.

Colt 1877 Bulldog Gatling Gun – Yes they are legal for you to own and this one actually shoots. It can be cycled at up to 1300 rounds per second and is a 45-70. The crank is in the back and was innovative at the time. Now it’s hand built by a single guy at Colt. Retail price: about $56,000 (yes that’s the right amount of zeros)

Angstadtarms 9mm Pistol – A mini AR that takes Glock 17 mags. What’s not to like? The look and size of this thing just says cool. It looks better then the others in this space and I just want to check one out and shoot it.

Walther CCP – I handled one of these at the shop. I thought it was going to be smaller but was a good-sized 9mm. I also couldn’t get the thing apart. The cool thing about this gun is the gas piston recoil system. I wanted to look at it myself but couldn’t get it apart. I really want to shoot one because it’s supposed to drop recoil and use a lighter recoil spring. It should be accurate because the barrel doesn’t move. I want to find out.

Coonan Compact – A compact 1911 in .357 Magnum (not 357 sig). Should be a fun shooter and a showstopper if the thing runs. I think it would be a lot of fun and wouldn’t mind owning one.

Colt 1903 – Colt is making the 1903 again in it’s original design. I want one just because it’s the original John Browning design. Looks cool to be able to buy a part of history and shoot it.

ATI Polymer 1911 – A good idea but has been done with little to no success before (bet you didn’t know that Kimber use to make one).   We’ll see if it works or not and if anyone really wants one. But I wouldn’t mind trying one. I miss my 1911 but it was like carrying around a brick compared to a Glock.

Springfield New M1A Stocks – Springfield is starting to put new stocks on their M1A rifles. If you really wanted to get everything out of the rifle it needs a different stock then what comes with the rifle. The comb on the stock isn’t high enough to mount an optic so the first thing someone normally has to do is get a new stock. Springfield is eliminating that problem. I’m excited to sell these; people are going to love them.

Springfield XD Mod 2 – The Mod 2 has been out for a couple months in 9mm and .40 but they announced the .45 at SHOT. I like these pistols and want to get out to shoot one. They feel great in the hand and have some really cool features that I think make them better then the original and the XDM.

Korth Sky Marshal 9mm Revolver – Korth builds really expensive (like $4,000) super accurate revolvers (probably why you haven’t heard of them, I’ve never even seen one in real life). They are a rare bread. But this one is a 9mm compact gun that is going to sell for about $900. That’s a little more expensive then a Ruger or Smith, but should out shoot both of them. It also doesn’t use moon clips and comes with a special speed loader.

FN Compact FNS Guns – A good idea if they actually want to capture the market. Having a duty sized gun and nothing else, no one cared. They are hard to sell and I don’t see anything special about them.

AM-Tac .416 Hushpuppy – A huge bullet shoved into a tiny case and fired out of a standard sized AR with normal AR mags. This is a 450-grain bullet leaving the barrel at subsonic speeds and hits like a 12 gauge slug. With a suppressor that’s one heck of hog killer!

Barrett Rec7 AR Rifle – Barrett makes great rifles and this one looks to ultra light, super accurate, piston driven rifle that I expect to be built as tough as a tank. The only reason I don’t have one, $2,759 MSRP on the rifle. I would love to have one just don’t have the pocket book for one.

Ruger LCP Custom – Big difference, real sights. They also put a different trigger in the gun. I don’t know if that will make a difference or not.   Something to look at.

Ruger Elite 452 MSR Trigger – It looks like a really nice trigger but don’t really care all that much. The only exciting part is the faster lock time. One of the problems with truly accurizing an AR is its long lock time compared to a lot of bolt guns. Ruger claims that there is a 30% faster lock time with this trigger over a standard trigger. The ad looks cool and it comes in a great idea. A molded trigger housing that lets you try the trigger before buying it! It’s a great idea that has come. I hope other companies start doing the same thing.

Taurus TCP with Wings – No it doesn’t fly, but the idea is to make it easy to rack the slide on a little gun. It is something customers ask for all the time at the gun shop. I’m not sure it’s much different then putting a bigger charging handle on an AR but the couple articles I’ve seen are wondering if they will break. Cool idea, but if they break it’s not useful. We’ll see. If they come to market they will sell a lot of them.

Accuracy International AX 50 – It’s cool because it’s a 50 made by Accuracy International. Back in the day AI was the only company you could get an out-of-the-box sniper grade rifle. Everything else you had to buy a rifle and then send it to a gun smith to triple the price and get something back you hope shoots. They have been making a 50 for a while, but this is a redesign that I’m sure shoots and I would love to lay behind and shoot 1000-yard groups or 1-mile shots with.

Why did someone make that?

Kahr TP9 – A full-sized single stack, 5 or 6 inch barreled Kahr pistol with a slide cut for a red dot. I don’t know why you would want one, but seems cool. The video on the web site shows some really cool shooting and that it’s a really accurate gun. I don’t think I’ll be getting one.

Remington R51 – I really didn’t think it was that cool last year. This year they are saying we might actually be able to get one that works. Remington is having all sorts of issues with a lot of there products lately. Not sure I would want one. Old technology beefed up to take the 9mm. Maybe it will work and be something cool but I’m not holding my breath.

Witness Elite 1911 Polymer – I don’t know why anyone would want this. It’s a single stack polymer framed 1911 and EAA generally wants a premium price. If it’s cheap I wouldn’t mind checking it out. But I’m thinking the price will be around $1,000 and I’d rather have a lot of other things for that money. And will it work?

Ruger 22 Charger Pistol Takedown – I don’t know why you would want this in a takedown. But I can see why the pistol will be fun to play with and use. But whatever…

Stage M9T – A full-sized and railed AR in 9mm that takes Colt 9mm stick magazines. I don’t know why I’d want one. But it does look cool with the Diamond Head 15” rail. One that took Glock mags or another common pistol mag would be great (I want one that takes M&P 9 Mags please).

Smith & Wesson M&P Performance Center Ported – These where shown at SHOT but Sparks Firearms got one in before the show and I was less then impressed. I would have expected more from the Performance Center. It looks like the guns where ported and an adjustable over travel stop was added. The trigger is obviously something other then stock, but isn’t that good or impressive. I really want to like this gun but don’t have a reason to. If you wanted a USPSA Open gun that was close to your carry gun, it might be for you. Just not for me.

Next post we’ll look at the gear that came out of SHOT!

Stay Safe,

Ben