SHOT Show 2018

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We are heading with lightning speed onto the 2019 edition of SHOT SHOW, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

At SHOT 2018 I was walking over to Horus Vision to speak with founder Dennis Sammut when an unexpected sight greeted me:  Todd Hodnett of Accuracy 1st was running people through a virtual reality video game designed to train users of the Horus Vision system of reticles.  Todd is an amazing long range shooter and an excellent instructor.  Though the line to try the “Horus Virtual Reality Experience” was too long for me to wait in, I did get to watch a few people try it out, and hear Todd’s excellent explanation of Horus’ Tremor3 reticle.  If anything, the system looks like a good way to keep up on long-range shooting skills if one lives in an area where deep snow impedes such activities during the winter.

I do enjoy DeSantis Gunhide’s products.  They make some of my favorite IWB and pocket holsters for micro-compact semiautos.  Back when I was involved with firearms retail, they were also a super friendly and easy company to deal with as a small business.  At SHOT 2018, they showed me some of their more wild creations, including these two clear OWB Kydex holsters.

Guys, bear with me: SHOT 2018 was a MAGNIFICENT event in recent times for my life! I have a lifetime of stories from SHOT 2018 and imagine how it goes when I make it to SHOT 2019!

In a continuation of the experiences I had at SHOT 2018, I visited exhibitions which could actually have a chance at penetrating the very highly restricted firearms environment in my country.

Celebrating more than a decade of being in business, Griffin Armament has rolled out an impressive spread of new silencers in the past year, most notably the Optimus Micro – a rimfire can that can handle 5.56mm on a 12 inch barrel. The Micro is both unique and useable – a good fit for veteran suppressor owners and new customers alike. Compact and quiet enough to perform on .22LR hosts but robust enough for an AR15. But as innovative as the Optimus Micro is, this isn’t the first time the guys at Griffin have shaken up the suppressor market – many of the new silencer advances we enjoy today started with the Griffin team in Watertown, Wisconsin.

FJ Feddersen has been in the barrel manufacturing business for almost 40 years. Located in East Tennessee since 2000, the manufacturing facility features top-of-the-line machinery. Mills, lathes, CNC machines, heat-treating ovens, and more fill the 17,500 square foot shop floor.

The industry is packed with new personal defense weapons (PDW’s) in all shapes, calibers, and sizes with the intent of providing a small but controllable package that can be easily deployed and give a large force multiplier in a small package. While many give up a large amount of velocity and ballistic capability by shortening barrels, Cry Havoc has gone an entirely different direction. While giving up a short 2-3 seconds to assemble the rifle, the Quick Release Barrel (QRB) Kit allows for a full-length rifle to be concealed on or off the body but quickly attached on demand with no permanent aftermarket modifications to the firearm and is compatible with a large assortment of Free Float Hand Guards.

During SHOT Show 2018, I asked Armalite, “What’s new for SHOW 2018?” While many companies brought new projects or talked about pending projects in the works, Armalite gave me an unexpected answer.

Bond Arms has long been known for their derringer-style pistols. Though diminutive in size, they still pack a punch. That’s why the Bond Arms Bullpup 9 is such a break-from-the-norm for the company.

The Sig Sauer P365 was one of the most talked about semi auto pistols to SHOT Show this year. TFB sat down with Sig’s media team and got the low-down on the newest member of the Sig Sauer family.

Leaper’s/UTG has come a LONG way since the days of airsoft parts and accessories. From their versatile handguards to their after-market stocks, the company has grown by leaps and bounds since it’s creation by a Taiwanese police officer who fell in love with the American dream in 1992.

The folks at Rothco have always produced quality gear, concealed carry clothing, and survival accessories. This year at SHOT Show 2018, they included a line of “Grey Man” concealed carry clothing as well.

Quarter Circle 10 – the company resulting from a cowgirl in Texas with a deadeye, steady trigger finger, and an attitude the size of state itself.

Whether adding an ambi end plate, changing out the buffer tube, or installing an after-market trigger, the need for a SOLID foundation on which to perform even the most minute of tasks on your AR-15 lower is imperative. The developers at Real Avid have come up with a solution to ease all of your multi-caliber woes – the Real Avid Smart-Fit Vise Block.

Ammunition Storage Components (ASC) supplies some of the firearms industry’s leading manufacturers with quality stainless steel and aluminum magazines.

Occasionally, companies throw industry standards out the window to create something truly unique and spectacular. Enter Alan Dugger, owner of Sprinco.

Cy and Lauren Hudson brought an updated version of their flagship firearm to SHOT Show this year, the Hudson H9A. We spoke with Lauren Hudson to learn what makes this new handgun so unique.

Desert Design and Development has a line of integrally suppressed ARs and a domestic HKMP5SD clone. Like the MP5SD, both the AR pattern rifles and D3LLC’s HK clone have ported barrels that slow supersonic ammunition below the speed of sound to prevent supersonic crack.

The new Ruger 9mm PCC has generated a great deal of interest. People have been asking for a gun like this for years and Ruger listened. It is packed with features requested by shooters.
A very special thanks to BROWNELL’S – check out their new Retro line here:
https://www.brownells.com/.aspx/bapid=606/ClientPage/brownells-retro?utm_medium=external%20partners&utm_source=secondmedia&utm_campaign=2018_01_22_shotshow&utm_content=events

Winchester’s new line of ammo is expressly designed for use in silencers. It uses subsonic projectiles and is designed to leave less carbon and lead residue in your silencer.

If you have ever attended SHOT Show recently you know that you better put on your walking shoes. It is huge! Just how huge?… Like, the size of the New Orleans Saints’ Superdome huge! The title sponsor for SHOT Show, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), compiled an impressive list of statistics in an all-encompassing SHOT Show Infographic.

Badger Ordnance has two pretty unique products that came out this year that will suit black gun enthusiasts as well as bolt-action rifle shooters. One is a Condition 1 Safety Selector for AR-15s while the other is an M-LOK Rail that can be inletted into bolt-action rifle stocks to allow for the addition of M-LOK accessories.

As we roll into that giant sunset in the SHOT Show sky, let’s take a second to review some of the most significant handguns announced a few weeks ago. As a sign of the times, the top requested pistol is basically an MP5 without a stock. Both long rumored and long awaited, the PTR 9C and 9CT is a quality American made roller delayed firearm with an accessible price point. Take a look at the rest of our Top Five list and let us know your thoughts.

Now more than a week has passed since SHOT 2018, and we at TFB are finally recuperating from what is most likely the busiest single week that the entire team will have all year. With SHOT Show over, we can finally go back to the boring business of gun writing and video making. But while the show is still fresh on our minds, I think it is important to take a second and look at some of the trends and big product pushes that occurred during the show.

Finally, it is time to wrap up the 2018 SHOT Show TFB coverage – while it seems like an endless supply of stories on manufacturers and vendors, we are proud to bring you the most complete rundown of the biggest show of the year. Anyway, you asked and we listened – between the blog itself, Instagram, Facebook and telepathy, we took your requests for more information seriously. Let’s start off today with five of the most popular Long Guns from this year’s SHOT Show.

We previously covered Bad Company Tactical on TFB in SHOT shows past and looked closely at the companies R2S quick detachment system. Initially Bad Company Tactical was focusing their efforts on handgun holster systems, attaching their R2S to the Picatinny rail of a handgun and placing that into an open holster that could fit numerous designs. Although it appears to have been a solid design, the market hasn’t really taken to the handgun option. Instead, the company is following customer demand and moving towards more mounts designed for grenade launchers, rifles, and really any tool that the R2S male hook can be attached to securely. To that end, Bad Company Tactical has expanded their Picatinny mounted line, and even into the world of MOLE and PALS webbing to mount their female base attachments.

Dark Storm is continuing down the path of making AR15s available for those in the less fortunate states such as California and New York. To fuel this endeavor the company is working with the California company Bear Flag Defense in introducing the companies polymer ejection port magazine loader that is used to load 10 rounds of 5.56x45mm into a state compliant rifle with a pinned magazine. Understand that the loader is only meant and designed to push rounds into the magazine and is then removed from the rifle for shooting. It is not at all meant to be fired from, which would actually be impossible in the first place. Dark Storm is also bringing in a number of pistol caliber carbines but many of these have been around for a while.

The Kriss Vector has drawn quite the following with its sci-fi appearance as a gun that looks like it belongs in World War 4. The Kriss Super V recoil mitigation system technology has also attracted many to the platform. The Vector also gained great popularity as a Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) due to its use of venerable Glock magazines. This year Kriss has released many new accessories and upgrades to compliment their current Vector offerings.