Mantis showed off their Blackbeard AR Dry Fire Training System at SHOT Show 2022 Industry Range Day. This unique system is a drop-in replacement for the bolt carrier group and charging handle of a standard AR-15. It also uses a battery pack in the magazine well, which powers the Blackbeard and resets the trigger after each pull. Instead of constantly racking the charging handle to the rear, you simply pull the trigger again and again.

I know, I know. An ejection port cover? We want to see guns! Just hear me out. Magpul’s Enhanced Ejection Port Cover offers a meaningful quality of life improvement to the AR building community.

A friend of mine, Sean S. clued me into Skydio back in the fall of 2020. I met up with Charlie of Skydio back then and he showed me a new drone they were submitting to the military. It is now called the X2D and they were at SHOT Show Range Day.

One of the biggest issues when it comes to traveling with guns and gear is the fact you never have enough space. I cannot tell you how many times I have traveled into a different state for training courses with multiple bags for all my gear. I reviewed the Otte Gear Range Bag a while back which is great for the day-long range days. The problem with the Otte Gear bag is it doesn’t leave much room for coats or anything you may need for a multiple-day course. I searched for a while for different solutions. Everything from Hard cased Pelicans to just taking a couple different bags but nothing really worked out. I searched around for awhile and finally came across the First Spear Contractor bag with a rolling frame. Let’s take a deeper look into this rolling locker on wheels.

80% lowers need not apply: In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves speaks with Cody Wilson about the NEW upgrade to the Ghost Gunner 3 that allows GG3 owners to turn “0% receivers” – regular blocks of aluminum – into AR-15 receivers, and possibly pistol frames and other components. Yes: this means that if you own a Ghost Gunner 3, a software update and a new set of fixtures will allow you to start making your own lowers at home. Cody gives you the details personally on today’s TFBTV ep.

Meopta has announced their second generation of HD binoculars with upgraded components, calling them the MeoPro HD Plus. Meopta’s MeoPro HD Plus line of binoculars focused on two of the previously available MeoPro HD’s five models, the 8x56mm, and the 10x42mm. These two new models feature upgraded lens coatings and a quicker focus wheel for fine tuning. The full press release can be read below.

Smith Tactics has released a new AR-15 charging handle called SIDE-KICK Co-CHARGER. This is a drop-in product (for mil-spec upper receivers) that provides a left-side non-reciprocating charging handle while still retaining the standard AR-15 charging possibility. Let’s take a look at the key features of this product and see what sets it apart from similar charging handles available on the market.

Former Sparks, Nevada Chief of Police Steve Keefer has taken to heart his role in police survival, even in retirement. He understands the value of training, in particular “reality-based training,” which for many agencies refers to role play with inert munitions. Its effectiveness is lauded in the law enforcement and military realms for facilitating better control over the physiological effects of stress, as well as improved decision-making about use of force.

XS Sights took a break from their namesake to bring a new tool to assist shooters that like to work on their AR-15 and AR-308 pattern rifles and pistols. XS Sights’ new AR Armorer’s Block is designed to work with both upper and lower receivers, compared to their previous block that works with upper receivers only. The new AR Armorer’s Block can be placed in a vise for securing the receivers while working on them, XS Sights’ full press release can be read below.

Sometimes a single photo is enough for our Photo Of The Day. Today is such a day. Concamo produces some really effective camouflage patterns and their images follow the same high standards. Most people think there’s just a dog in the picture above. But we have the brand new Heckler & Koch HK433 and a short-barreled Heckler & Koch HK417, most likely a G27P. Note that the HK417 has some really interesting optics, probably a thermal clip-on.

Primary Arms Optics claim they have more launches than Space X this month. We’ll see what the rest of the month might bring, but we’ll start with the release of their new PLx rifle scope mounts for their premium PLx product line.

Strike Industries has partnered with a few different companies to bring owners of a SIG Sauer P320 Fire Control Unit a new modular chassis system. Strike worked with MetaForce and airsoft superpower Evike.com to design and develop the Rampage Alpha, a chassis system to be released in 2022.

Visualizing how your gear will look and function is essential especially when you’re spending hundreds of dollars. Gadsden Dynamics has just released an updated version of their Chest Rig Builder which is a unique way for you to get a real-time look at both the appearance and the price of your chest rig while you’re shopping. The Gadsden Dynamics Chest Rig builder allows you to select everything from the camouflage pattern, magazine, and admin pouches all in a simple browser-based solution.

We have so many options when selecting a new optic. They’re light, fast, and feature-rich. Some of us, however, aren’t in the market for something new. We like the tried and true, battle-proven optics that we already know and love. Unfortunately, some of these classic optics weren’t designed with modern shooting techniques in mind. Modern shooters wearing plate carriers, helmets, and comms devices might have trouble utilizing their Trijicon ACOG and VCOG optics. This is why Unity Tactical has just released a new FAST mount with these shooters in mind. Welcome the new Unity Tactical FAST COG mount series.

During every gun rush, it always goes through my head the amount of things I should have bought while I could have gotten them. There’s a number of things that are trickling back into stock so it’s never a bad idea to stock up on things you need before products either become tough to find or elevated in price. Let’s take a look at a few guns and gear to buy now rather than later since they are getting back into stock.

Grey Birch Solutions have announced a new rifle in their precision Ruger 10/22 style rifle range which includes the Standard LDR (Long Distance Ready) Carbon Fiber Barreled model and the RDR (Red Dot Ready) short-barreled model which has a receiver milled specifically for mounting popular micro red dots. The LDR Fatty Rifle switches the carbon fiber barrel for a 16.1″ heavy profile stainless steel one.

Cable management can be a pain. It wasn’t until recently that we had effective options that replaced the trusty and jagged cable tie. One downfall of some of these mounting methods was the expense. Strike Industries has given us an extremely low-cost option with their new Cable Management System Sleeve.

Added real estate is never a bad thing when running a plate carrier, as long as the carrier maintains a proper fit. A good fit can be hard to get with some body types, so High Speed Gear has released their new Core Cummerbund in a variety of sizes.

Midwest Industries Inc. has a vast aftermarket support for the AR platform, and to assist AR-15 and AR-308 owners, Midwest Industries made the Lower Receiver Block, which has numerous features that can help in order to assemble the various parts of an AR. There are two Lower Receiver Blocks available, one for the standard-sized AR-15, and one for the larger AR-308, SR25, AR-10 patterns. The Lower Receiver Block can also be mounted to a workbench, or used in a vise and hold a lower receiver by the magazine well.

There are lots of accessories for the Springfield Hellcat compact 9×19 mm pistol and now Viridian Weapon Technologies is adding a new one. Designed for everyday carry, the E Series laser sight is easy to install on the trigger guard and can be controlled from both sides. with a 5-minute auto shut-off. The green laser is visible up to 100 yards in daylight and the red laser – 25 yards.

I was recently given a drop-in trigger and asked to take a look and see if I had any thoughts. That is where the RMT Nomad and I met. The interesting thing about this trigger is the trigger shoe pivots. It both rotates and swings side to side slightly. RMT calls this “Pivot Technology”. The pivot will allow perfect indexing consistently through different shooting positions. This is new and very different. Clearly a product I want to play with and put through some testing. Do I think it is legit, or a gimmick?  Read on my friends.

Elftmann triggers are pretty sweet. I got to check one out a few years ago. In fact, that was the beginning of my being a self-proclaimed trigger snob. There was no way I was going to pass up reviewing their new SOCOM trigger. I was hoping they had a “more-better” product, not a slightly different newer same old. I found that the Elftmann SOCOM is not just adjustable, but VERY easily adjustable. None of the finding the microscopic hex head with the world’s smallest Allen wrench nonsense. I was pumped until it was stolen, kind of. More on that later.

For the 5th day of TFB Christmas, we’re going to take a look at some great barrels for your pistol or rifle. Being one of the main pressure bearing components of a firearm along with the bolt, the barrel is primarily responsible for much of the accuracy of your firearm as well as other important characteristics including weight and the velocity of your projectiles which can change the terminal ballistics of them for hunting, defense, etc. Upgrading your barrel on a hunting or competition rifle can mean the difference between landing your first cold bore shot or having to take one or several makeup shots and today we’ll take a look at some quality barrels from some of our favorite online retailers. Disclaimer: not all of the barrels listed here will be made from Chromoly.

Pistol red dots are not cheap. Though there are “budget” options, a couple hundred dollars is still a week of groceries. Whether you’re running less expensive gear or you splurged for the best, it’s good practice to protect your investment. The Trijicon SRO is not on the budget side of the scale, and Strike Industries wants you to keep your gear running for as long as it can. To help protect your SRO in particular, they have just released the rigid but flexible Strike JellyFish Cover for Trijicon SRO.

Accessory rails are more common than ever on modern sporting arms. While these rails offer many advantages, (including the mounting of foregrips, lights, and laser aiming modules) there are also a few drawbacks. Aluminum rails can heat up quickly and they don’t always offer a positive grip with sweaty or wet hands. Enter Walker Defense Systems with their NILE Silicon Carbide M-Lok Rail Panels.

In last week’s article, I talked about a number of accessories for carrying a concealed firearm – aftermarket sights, slide cuts and adding red dots to your handgun. If you haven’t checked out the first part of this guide, feel free to check it out by clicking here. There’s a number of both good and bad upgrades you can do so let’s keep this train rolling with a few more accessories you should either consider or steer clear from. Let’s dive into part 2 of the carry gun accessories guide.

If there’s one thing that I do every day that keeps me out of jail ad off of YouTube, it’s keeping my pants up in public. A good, reliable belt can save you a lot of embarrassment, as well as act as a platform to carry all of your daily gear. Having experience with the Boxer Outdoors Apogee belt, I was happy to see the company release another ratcheting belt. This is the slimmer, sleeker Perigee belt from Boxer Outdoors.

As many of you have noticed by now I like atypical firearms. This may involve using accessories not originally designed for that platform. Well, when BOYDS offered up their gun stocks for review, I jumped at the chance to try out the BOYDS AT-ONE Mossberg 500 stock but to see if I could use it on my Ruger PC Carbine. I will explain how I did that in a little bit but first, let’s take a look at the stock.

Reptilia is an American design and manufacturing company famous for optics mounts and similar accesories. They now have a new DOT Mount for the Aimpoint® ACRO P-1 and P-2 as well as the Steiner Optics MPS red dots. The mount is 1.93″ high and made out of Type III hardcoat anodized 7075 aluminum and nitrided 4140 steel. It’s made in the USA and weighs only 60 grams.

It seems that everyone who starts hunting or shooting sooner or later starts reloading. Some start reloading to save money some do it purely to get better precision. For some, reloading seems to become an even bigger interest than the shooting itself. Regardless, a high-performance scale is always a help and Creedmoor Sports has now released their new TRX-925 Precision Reloading Scale with the ability to read down to 0.01 grains.