| View From The Floor | SHOT 2010: What Was Hot, What Was Not |
| Written by James Tarr | |
| Friday, 29 January 2010 | |
 The Direct Action Recce Smock from Eotac in the new A-TACS camo pattern, available Fall 2010. (Photo: Eotac). But I was there for a more specific purpose - to peruse and study all the latest tactical offerings on display at the 2010 SHOT show. There's just no article long enough to cover everything on display at SHOT, so this opinion column is intended to give those who couldn't come the flavor of what they missed. It's full of what experts like to call editorial opinion, and the views expressed herein are in no way representative of the views of InterMedia Outdoors, the staff of TacticalGunFan or anyone else, except myself. The Biggies There were three big news items at this year's SHOT Show:
1. Trijicon's Crusader scopes To start with No. 1, Trijicon didn't introduce a new line of Crusader scopes, but you'd never know that by listening to ABC News. Right around the first day of SHOT, some enterprising journalism major discovered that there were references to Bible verses on the high-powered ACOG scopes Trijicon was making for our troops going into harm's way.
 The new all-aluminum AR stock from ACE LTD designed specifically for CQB applications. (Photo: James Tarr) Of course, we all know that religion has never had anything to do with why people go to war. I went to the Trijicon booth at SHOT and examined an ACOG, and right there on the side was ACOG4X32JN8:12, which is a reference to John 8:12 in the New Testament. I talked to a Trijicon rep and asked him about the situation. He explained that it was still in flux, but he didn't seem too concerned as this wasn't something they had just started doing, or started doing after 9/11, but had been doing from day 1 with their scopes. Glyn Bindon, the founder of Trijicon, was a very active Christian and the quotes were his idea. I'm an agnostic who was raised by a devout Roman Catholic and a Presbyterian, and am currently married to a born-again (Baptist) Christian, so forgive my confusion - is John 8:12 the verse that talks about killing all the infidels?
 The author testing out the new RONi pistol carbine conversion kit from EMA tactical, mounted on a Glock 17. Installation takes 10 seconds, and muzzle rise is reduced to near zero. (Photo: James Tarr) While this is against U.S. law, it's how business is done in most of the world - so much so that enforcement is very arbitrary. Which begs the question: Doesn't the FBI have anything better to do, or were they just trying to send a message to the gun industry? I'll let you answer that for yourself. No. 3, for close to 3 years, gun owners (myself included) have been eagerly anticipating the full production release of the Magpul Masada/Bushmaster ACR. Magpul originally envisioned selling the rifle for $1,500. This could have been the biggest thing to happen to Bushmaster ever, and it would have firmly planted them in the first tier of firearms manufacturers. Instead, 5 minutes after the show opened, the ACR became the punchline of a joke. Offering two models, the cheapest of which had an MSRP of $2,700, with 1/9 twist non-chrome-lined barrels and an $8 flashhider, Bushmaster has so completely shot themselves in the foot that I don't know how they can recover. I'd bet their AR sales suffer as well from consumer backlash. Twenty-four hours after the show opened, someone posted a video on YouTube featuring Hitler ranting about the ACR. It's the funniest thing I've seen since The Hangover. A day after it was posted it had 14,000 hits - that's how huge of a debacle the Absurdly Costly Rifle has become. Some Observations
 The 4th-generation Glocks with removable backstraps and raised bumps for gripping. (Photo: James Tarr) Renovated parking garages aside, the show being in Vegas meant that there were quite a lot more high heels and surgically-implanted accessories used to advertise products. Trust me, I'm a trained observer. This year's SHOT show was the smallest I've seen in several years, which I assume is due to both the economy and the political situation, but it was still so large that it took me a day and a half just to walk the complete show without stopping to chat - just to see what there was to see. I prefer a grid-pattern search, but TacticalGunFan's main man David Fortier prefers to let the Force guide him, and wanders aimlessly, somehow sniffing out everything interesting. I'm sure there were more celebrities at the show than I saw, but I know for a fact Steven Seagal, Scott Glenn and Eric Estrada were all there, and Dennis Miller gave the State of the Industry speech. Ted Nugent had a concert date locally the day after the show ended, so I know he was around somewhere too.
 The author tries out the FN 40mm grenade launcher. (Photo: James Tarr) As big a disappointment as the ACR was, I was very impressed with the new Beretta ARX160. Fed by standard AR mags, this modular rifle has so many neat features I could write an entire article on what I saw in a simple 5-minute demo. The charging handle and ejection can be switched from right to left or back in under 10 seconds, there are three separate mag-release locations, and the barrel can be changed out more simply and quickly than any other rifle I've ever seen, including the ACR. Speaking of the ACR, a Beretta rep was asked if the company planned to introduce the ARX160 at a price lower than that of the ACR or SCAR. He indicated that was very likely. A domestic civilian version is as yet unscheduled, since Beretta is currently working to secure an Italian army contract. But it'll happen. For those of you who aren't fans of expensive modular polymer rifles, LaRue Tactical had its OBR Lite on display. Scaled down from the .308 project, the Optimized Battle Rifle Lite is perhaps the finest factory-production AR in .223 you'll find anywhere, for the low price of $1,995. SHOT is home to the odd and weird as well. While I didn't see Toad-A-Flage back this year (and yes, it's exactly what you think it is), I did see a company selling 21st-century polymer uber-sporks, with a spoon on one end, a fork on the other, and one of the fork tines serrated like a knife.
 The new FN Sniper Support Rifle - an accurized .308 rifle developed via FN's efforts with the SCAR-H. (Photo: James Tarr) The quip going around this show was that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a picatinny rail, but running a close second was airsoft replica guns. Anybody who isn't making an AR-15 is making a 1911, AR rails, airsoft guns, a tactical-looking .22 rifle, or a new camo pattern. There were several surprising announcements as well. Premier Reticles won the contract with the Marines for a new sniper scope, beating out Schmidt & Bender. Insight Technology won the contract for the military's mini red-dot with its MRDS, and Blackhawk's Serpa holster is now the official issue holster of all SF units. Apparently, the Army is so unhappy with its ACU camo pattern that it's looking for a replacement, and every branch of the military now wants its own pattern too. Air Force soldiers were walking around the show in digital tiger-stripe uniforms, but the colors were the same as in the ACU, so I don't see how they're a big improvement. The Tacti-Cool crowd has been buying Multi-Cam for the last year or two, but the new player on the block is Eotac. The company had prototypes of its new camo pattern A-TACS (Advanced Tactical Concealment System) pretty much everywhere, which at first glance is a soft-edged combination of light and dark tans. Viewing it in different light reveals there's more than a bit of green in the pattern. A-TACS will be available in a number of different clothing items this fall, and webgear and accessories in that pattern will be available as well. Conversations, Talks
 You can find all sorts of cool things at SHOT. (Photo: James Tarr) I heard a Marine wax eloquent about SEALS: "I call them submersible door gunners. In the water they're awesome, but get them on land and they're nothing special." I discovered firsthand that the head PR person of a major firearms company thinks Rush Limbaugh's "stupid," and learned later this person voted to put our current president in office. If that's not assisted career suicide, I don't know what is. More On Sights Premier Reticles, Schmidt & Bender and Leupold all introduced 1-8X scopes at the show with illuminated-dot reticles. With that magnification range, there's no need for a second optic on any rifle short of a dedicated sniper platform. It'll do just about anything you need. The most surprising thing I heard was the MSRP for the S&B was only going to be $2,100, due to technological advancements in the manufacturing process. Much less expensive is Meopta's new 1-4x22mm Tactical version of its highly popular R1 K-Dot. Featuring a drastically shortened 30mm tube, BDC reticle with daylight illumination, capped turrets with lanyards and impressive optics, it looks to be an excellent scope. Does it crank to 8x? No, but it'll retail in the $800 range. Range Time The day before the SHOT show opens, there's always Media Day at a local range where interested members of the press get to play with products from manufacturers. Free guns and OPA (other people's ammo)? Sign me up.
 The new modular Beretta ARX160 rifle - it takes AR mags and has a quick-change barrel. FNH-USA also held a media event at Nellis Air Force Base, and any day spent behind belt-fed machineguns and grenade launchers (even if they were only paint rounds) is a good day. FN debuted its new Sniper Support Rifle (SSR), basically an accurized SCAR-H with a new stock, trigger group, extended receiver/rail and more. The only downside to the day was the weather - cold and rainy - which wasn't exactly what you'd expect for Vegas. Smith & Wesson introduced two new Bodyguard models equipped with lasers, a DAO polymer semi-auto .380 and a .38 snubnose with the cylinder release mounted on the top of the frame. I liked the triggers on both guns, and the new cylinder release is ingenious, but the buttons to activate the lasers were tough to hit. I'm dubious about the real-world value of lasers to begin with, and something tiny and tough to manipulate on a gun designed for close-in quick work seems counterintuitive to me. SIG introduced new "Enhanced" models of its 226 and 229, which feature a redesigned one-piece grip. While the new grip does reduce the front-to-back dimensions of the pistol, it's still just as wide, and the new grip places the hand even lower on a gun that has a high bore to begin with. Sigh. Lone Wolf Distributing had its new polymer replacement frame for Glocks on display. Why replace plastic with plastic? Well, the Lone Wolf has a big beavertail and a replaceable backstrap so it can be made to feel like a 1911, that's why. Of course, Glock's 4th-generation autos are out now that featuring replaceable backstraps, but to get one of those you'll need to buy a whole gun, whereas the Lone Wolf frames cost $199 and should be available within weeks. Final Thoughts The SHOT show is truly an international event, and the first day alone I heard people speaking Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and British, which is different than English, and don't let anyone tell you different. I also saw a lot of people from California, so I did my part and welcomed them to America.
 The Lone Wolf frame for Glocks with replaceable backstraps and an undercut trigger guard for improved recoil control.
Click the links below for more information about companies mentioned in this column: The opinions contained in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of TacticalGunFan or its staff. Comments (0)
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