SHOT Show 2017 Finds
Oleg Volk 01.31.17
Considering the sheer number of booths at SHOT show, there’s no way to see everything in the mere four days. In general, the show is always the mix of old and new, the mundane and the odd. Like the old STEN submachine gun above, with a mundane Aimpoint red dot and a Dead Air sound suppressor. Yes, it was very quiet. No, we can’t buy simple tube submachine guns at hardware stores, though it would have been most logical absent the various regulations.
A lot of the development are slight evolutions of the previous year’s news, like the striker fired CZ P10 C, derived predictably from P09. Or the CZ BREN2(806), a much-refined model 805 that won’t be available to non-government users for another couple of years. The translucent, non-reflective magazine in it is from Troy Arms, and that will be available shortly.
Some of the new products are so useful, I wonder how we got by without them. Mag-Pump loads AR magazines quickly from loosely dumped cartridges.
The same company makes a simple but handy mechanical mag un-loader.
Last year’s news are this year’s product for sale. Micro Roni works really well, especially when no one is around to witness the exact placement of the brace. Since the front sight is much too close for most people to focus on comfortably, the MH1 or similar red dot sight is essential. Thus configured, it makes a plain Glock 17 good out to 150 yards.
This year yielded the best SHOT show business card ever, from Shootingsight. It unfolds into a pretty handy little knife.
While calibers like 50AE, 500S&W and 458SOCOM can’t cheap to shoot, Freedom Munitions is bringing out less expensive Big Grains line for relatively affordable practice. Yes, the “game controller” Desert Eagle is real.
Since I have seen a few thousand AR15s in my life, I went over to Nighthawk Custom to look at their engraved guns instead. It’s jewelry that also shoots.
This year, they also import Korth revolvers from Germany, some of them also with serious engraving.
If Korth is too mainstream for you, try Janz. You can get an entire set of barrels and cylinders on a single receiver, a feature more relevant to German regulations than to ours. It does offer certain reduction of weight for air travel, and each individual barrel can be adjusted for windage at least. The rear sight is common to all.
Janz also had this 9mm prototype, though I am not sure what it is supposed to become once it grows up.
And, for the Webley lover in me, a 7-shot .357Mag variant of the World War 1 model. Great finish and fit, other than the protruding, hard-edged back of the trigger guard. Very smooth trigger and much beefed up construction for the .357 and the projected .44Mag.
The horse-sized fly in the ointment is the price, projected to be somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. For that much, most enthusiasts would stick with a reconditioned original and 455 Webley or downloaded 45ACP ammunition.
The removal of firearms from the mainstream culture leads to photos like these, seen at a booth of an airgun pellet maker. Fingers are solidly on triggers without the guns being on target. Even American kids usually know better than that!
Another trend is the gradual improvement of the basic rifles acquired when the alien presidency of Hillary was a possibility. Now the basic ARs and AKs can be upgraded with better triggers and sights. Given the higher price of the new, not surplus rifles, the cost of the improvements is not longer viewed as unreasonable compared to the initial investment.
In the end, the best show and tell happens at after hours parties and gatherings.
The odd, non-autoloading straight pull Semmerling LM4 45ACP holds 4+1. The kick is probably formidable.
Which one to wear? The pretty Korth or the lighter, smaller, cheaper and probably more practical Ruger LCR? The answer, of course, is “both, and that S&W 500 as well!”
