SHOT Show 2017

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At the 2018 Industry Day at the Range, innovative premium AR manufacturer Cobalt Kinetics brought out several new rifles which they will be selling for the new year. Chief among these was their new .308 pattern AR, which can be produced in calibers like .308 Winchester and 6.5mm Creedmoor. Called the BAMF-XL, the new weapon is, like its smaller brother, a billet aluminum machined receiver set that uses SR-25 magazines. Like all Cobalt Kinetics weapons, the receivers sports attractive, stylized lines that give the BAMF-XL a unique look while still being identifiably “AR”. In addition to the BAMF-XL, Cobalt Kinetics brought along their new RECON PDW, an ultra-compact AR-15 using an MVB ARC PDW stock, 13.5″ barrel, and a pinned and welded Cobalt Kinetics Pro Muzzle Brake. Thanks to its compact stock and pinned and welded configuration, the RECON PDW is just 29 inches in overall length.

For those who are familiar with night vision can see in their mind’s eye the stereotypical kryptonite green colored images. Even in the best night vision setups the image is green. My PVS-14 is Gen III and the image it produces is phenomenal. However it is still green. For those with more disposable income than me, you can get night vision with white phosphor tubes and the image is a pale greenish white.

In a surprise announcement at the 2018 SHOT Show, gunmaker Weatherby revealed that they will be leaving the state of California, where they have been based since their founding in 1945. The company’s new home will be Sheridan, Wyoming, the sixth largest city in the state, nestled beside the Bighorn Mountains, and close to the border with Montana. The move was announced with little notice on the floor during the afternoon of the show on Monday, with the Wyoming Business Council in attendance. Adam Weatherby, founder Roy Weatherby’s grandson, cited strong economic incentives from the Wyoming Business Council, as well as more freedom to develop new products without onerous legal restrictions as reasons for leaving California.

SEE PART ONE HERE: https://youtu.be/r6_5YIrrbhU

In this episode of TFBTV, James and Patrick interview representatives of Battlefield Las Vegas and Heckler and Koch to get some basic information about the mysterious H&K MP7 Submachinegun. Of course, James and Patrick (as well as TFBTV’s camera guys, who had never shot a gun before SHOT 2017) get to cut loose with the MP7 on camera. Note that the version fired at Battlefield is an MP7A1, while the model used by H&K’s rep is the A2 variant.

The 2017 SHOT Show has come and gone. This photo set will highlight some innovative products that I personally saw at the SHOT Show. This is my last SHOT related article for 2017. SHOT Show this year was a blast. A big thanks to my TFB colleagues, our Editors and most importantly our Readers.

At the 2017 SHOT Show, Bushnell premiered their new DMR II and DMR II-i rifle scopes. These riflescopes feature a 34mm tube and come in both illuminated and non-illuminated options. These scopes have 10 mils of adjustment per revolution and have Bushnell’s new ThrowHammer Lever, that makes dialing magnification easier. These scopes have zero stop functionality and are available with a G3, G3-i illuminated reticle or a Horus H59 reticle.

Like many CZ-75 fans I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Sphinx SDP Standard, that was announced at SHOT 2016. Sadly it appears that Sphinx is not going to be releasing the Standard. All is not lost though! They announced at SHOT that they will be re-releasing the Sphinx 3000 series of pistols.

SureFire had some new lights at Shot Show 2017.  The Firepak has been shelved for this new light. with intellibeam. So the light reflected off the surface will cause the light to auto switch to the flood beam so you are not blinded by the backsplash of light.

Stopping by the Horus Vision booth, I got a chance to look at the new Tremor 4 Reticle, designed by Todd Hodnett. The Tremor 4 is currently available for spotting scopes and blends the elements of the Tremor 3 wind dots and the Horus H59 reticle.

4Sevens is starting to get into the weapon light market. They have been quietly making some great handheld lights for over the past 10 years. Their Quark series is rather popular as it is modular so you can choose different heads for different modes of light as well as different body lengths for your choice of batteries. I remember a few years ago when David unveiled his massive XM18 work light. It is discontinued now but it has 18 Cree XM-L leds and is powered by 28x RCR18650! It puts out 15,000 lumens for a solid hour or you can dim it down to 600 lumens to run for 24 hours.

During the 2017 SHOT Show I saw very little in the way innovation. One company that had some new innovative products was iota Outdoors. iota Outdoors hails from College Station Texas and had some new products aimed at the precision rifle crowd.

This year at Shot Show 2017 Primary Arms showed off its latest offerings in optics. They will be offering some of their scopes in FDE, OD Green and Wolf Gray. You can see in the photo above, their 1-6x and their red dots will be offered in alternate colors.

Although KVAR has these new Aresenal models in stock, I did not find them in either of their SHOT Show booths. And while they aren’t drastically different from previous rifle configurations, both guns will appeal to AK lovers. Below are the two new SLR107 and SAM7 models

Rifles Only had some neat products on display during the 2017 SHOT Show. Rifles Only, based out of Kingsville Texas, is a  training facility that offers long range rifle shooting and training. Aside from long range shooting, Rifles Only also offers classes for carbine, long range hunting, high angle shooting, high risk protection detail, field craft, pistol, instructor education, as well as helicopter assault training.

Novel Arms is a Japanese optics manufacturer that is partnering up with LKCI, a Turkish based company that will be importing the companies optics from Japan into the United States. A number of optics companies have used Japanese manufacturing because of the high quality of glass that is available there. Novel Arms is essentially cutting the middle man out and bringing the product to the United States. At the LKCI booth, Novel Arms had on display, three of their scopes, a 1X red dot called the TDX-11, Mark III Short Illuminated Reticle Scope in 1-8X24, and a Dual Plane Reticle in 1-6X24.

Melbourne, FL based Fight Lite Industries is the current company that was formally known as Ares Defense until it was renamed. Our own Pete M. published the press release showing the MXR’s introduction before SHOT, and we got a further in-depth look at the MXR while at the actual booth on the floor. The idea of the MXR came from an operational requirement from several LE agencies in Europe following the attacks on the Bataclan Theater in Paris in November of 2015. According to the designer, officers armed with handguns were severely outgunned by the AKM armed terrorists. Similar to why Britain’s London Met CT unit is adopting 5.56x45mm Sig MCXs, is to combat the threat levels that opponents are reaching within Europe. Having a pistol caliber carbine in an officers patrol car would offer a much more significant advantage over a duty handgun when dealing with Bataclan-like terrorist attacks, especially when it takes the same magazines and ammunition. Ballistics of 5.56x45mm/.300 BLK versus a 9x19mm round against body armor aside, a pistol caliber carbine certainly solves the logistical issue.

Bad Company Tactical has had one of the more unique products that I’ve seen over these past two shows. When it comes to having something that would actually be extremely useful and not some tactical gimmick like the Tac Sac or the Picatinny rail compensator.

As we wrap up our SHOT Show coverage, we turn to a new company on the US market, but an old name in Australia: Lithgow. This Australian gun company dates back to the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, established before World War I and located in New South Wales. Today, Lithgow brands itself as a high tech manufacturer, advertising its military Atrax bullpup rifle as using a completely novel polymer in the construction of its barrel cradle, for example. Lithgow’s US arm themselves will not be importing the Atrax (that will be handled by Dasan), but rather a line of premium bolt action rifles that have been sold on the Australian civilian market for several years now.

Last year at SHOT we covered a company producing a different type of action camera–MOHOC. What is better about these cameras, in my opinion, is that they are not only more discreet than the GoPros that we are all familiar with, but they are inherently more rugged. You don’t need extra accessories to get a water/drop proof camera.

Ah, the Desert Tech MDR: The rifle many (based on my comments and emails) believe will be the savior of bullpups, and the best rifle ever made, sweeping aside all others. Well, that’s a pretty high bar for it to clear, but Desert Tech was at the 2017 SHOT Show, and had brought some of their pre-production MDR rifles with them for display.

Aimpoint announced their newest red dot, the Micro S-1. It is based on the H2 body style but is modified to mount to the rib of a shotgun. The S-1 features a 6 MOA dot and comes with an assortment of mounts made of a polymer carbon blend. It will retail for around $700.

From Switzerland to Las Vegas and back, B&T seem to have had an excellent SHOT Show with a booth flooded by visitors.

Illinois based Manticore Arms has ruffled up some feathers again by introducing CZ Scorpion EVO magazines, both translucent but in clear and “Smoke Tint” polymer colors. Both are $29.95 and will be available by late February or March of this year through Prepper Gun Shop’s online base. Feed lips are metal, and are within the polymer bodies. Capacity is 32 rounds, with round markers along the side of the magazines at 12,22, and 32 respectively. They can be easily disassembled via a floor plate at the bottom of the magazine. The magazines also count for 922r compliance, so that frees up room to add more parts or retain foreign parts for the actual EVO firearm. The magazines have also been tested in both semi-automatic and fully automatic modes for functionality.

Kalashnicohn is bringing to market Vityaz, completely manufactured in the United States. Apart from the few parts that are subcontracted out, the machining and receiver stamping is manufactured at the companies store in Phoenix, Arizona. Compared to the clone being brought in by Kalashnikov USA, Kalshnicohn’s version might not be as matching when it comes to collector value, but it does accomplish the job of an affordable SBR, pistol, or rifle that comes with interchangable magazine wells. Currently the magazine wells offered are for MP5, Glock, and of course original Vityaz magazines. Removing them is through a simple pin outside of the trigger guard. Pistol variants will come without the folding stock, while rifle variants will come with a faux suppressor attached. Of course, one can order the Vityaz in SBR form with the folding stock and sub 16″ barrel. If you notice that there aren’t any dimples where the safety should slide into, this is intentional. Customers can request dimples, or even cut them out themselves. The company has had too much conflicting information when it comes to what customers want, that it is just easier to leave it plain.

Tacoma based Rite in the Rain has made a name for themselves with their extremely durable outdoor waterproof line of notebooks and paper. This year the company is delving into shooting targets with the same durability that the company has been known for. In fact, the company set up a water display where water was actually dripping on the targets throughout SHOT. Currently the company offers a number of target formats, pictured below are specific self defense formats and U.S. Army qualification targets. The qualification ones even have handy measurements for zero and shot placement reference measurements printed on them and behind them. There are other target formats available, just not for display at SHOT.

DragonTail is a firearms cleaning company out of Minnesota that has been bringing cleaning products to market since 2014. They are an alternative to the extremely popular Boresnake currently put out by Hoppe’s. The Boresnake is probably one of those products that will have very far reaching effects many years from now because of the pure simplicity it has brought to readily cleaning barrels. It doesn’t do as good a job as several patches running through a barrel, but it certainly bridges the gap between nothing and those patches you might have left at home.

The redheaded stepchild of the SCAR contract was Robinson Arms’ XCR, an interesting design from a small company in Salt Lake City, UT. A rifle that is part AR-15, part FNC, and part noodle, the XCR represents an attractive looking and interesting might-have been, and now exists as a small player in a big market (although, as Ed knows, it’s big in Canada!).