Guns and Gear Au Go Go

Thoughts on SHOT

By Payton Miller

For me, the 2016 SHOT Show started out on Media Day at the mammoth, state-of-the-art Clark County Shooting Complex north of Las Vegas, Nevada. I was shooting SIG’s suppressed P226 in .22 Long Rifle—the rimfire option is an absolute must if you ever want to experience true “Hollywood Quiet” with a suppressed handgun. But since I was surrounded by folks lighting off non-suppressed firearms in various centerfire calibers, the experience was a bit unsatisfying—it was all I could do to hear the muffled tink when I managed to hit the orange-sized steel gong. When you’re simply a cog in a mega-length firing line, even large differences in decibel output are pretty tough to appreciate.

Anyway, once I set down the pistol, I wandered over to try my hand with SIG’s new M400 Predator, a DGI item available in 5.56 and .300 Blackout expressly designed for what its name implies (although it would certainly do the trick for whitetail as well.) The rifle’s collapsible stock makes it “winter clothing friendly” in terms of length-of-pull. I fired several 5-round magazines through it (the one I shot was in 5.56) and found it handled very nicely—and is mercifully free of cheese-grater rail sections.

Kimber K6S

STI Guardian 2011
Let’s start out with some mangled metaphor-izing: When a company known for producing sports cars comes out with a motorcycle, that’s news. OK, that didn’t work. We’ll play it straight. What I saw next day wandering the aisles turned out to be the talk of the show. Kimber’s new K6S revolver. Yep, you read that right. Roughly resembling a J-Frame hammerless on steroids, this .357 snubbie’s a 6-shooter. Sizewise, it’s roughly between a Colt Detective Special and a Ruger SP-101. It’s all-stainless steel, features an excellent non-stacking trigger pull, and broad, low-profile sights. I wasn’t at the right range on Media Day to shoot it, but I talked to several revolver aficionados who did, and they were impressed. This sleek and highly-distinctive snubbie is definitely something to keep your eye on. It’ll be interesting to see how many variations to the basic platform Kimber comes up with down the line. And somehow I don’t think it’ll take too long. We’re going to do our best to get our ink-stained hands on one soon.

I don’t know many serious handgun guys who don’t think highly of the Browning Hi-Power, John Browning’s 1935 follow-up to the great 1911. This “ultimate 9” is now getting the full-dress tweak-and-tune treatment from Nighthawk Custom. This includes frame-to-slide fitting, a hand-stippled frame and triggerguard, extended beavertail, contoured magwell, Heinie Slant Pro Black Rear Sight, 14K gold bead front sight, crowned barrel, serrated mag release, competition steel hammer, a custom trigger job, Cerakote Satin finish and custom cocobolo checkered grip panels. It’s a showstopper—subtle and just plain classy. The closer you look, the better it looks.

S&W Victory

Another big bit of handgun news was Smith & Wesson’s .22 Victory. A single-action .22 LR blowback semi-auto, it features a 5-1/2-inch match grade barrel, fiber optic front and adjustable fiber optic rear. It’s also got a Picatinny rail for optics. With a weight just over 37 ounces, it should fit the bill for target shooting or informal plinking equally well. It comes with two 10-round magazines and is priced at just over $400.

No trip to the SHOT Show would be complete without at least one 1911, so I’d like to offer up one from my own short list of eye-grabbers—the new STI Guardian 2011. This elegant little double-stack 9mm features a 3.9-inch barrel, Cerakote frame, stainless slide and 15-round capacity, yet its short VIP grip helps keep it in the CCW category. The rear sight’s adjustable, which should make things a heck of a lot easier when you want to zero to your favorite high-performance defense load.

By the second day of cruising the aisles, I was in a shotgunny frame of mind. And it was fortunate for me the first pair I ran across were both inertia-operated autoloaders—my favorite type, thanks to my abhorrence for dealing with the carbon buildup associated with gas-operated guns. First there was Browning’s A-5 “Sweet 16.” I’m a sucker for resurrected classics, and this one’s a beaut—a revised “short action” inertia-powered take on the old long-recoil original. And it’s in 16-gauge, a cult gauge if ever there was one. Alloy receiver, lightweight barrel, F, M, IC Invector DS choke tubes. I mean, you don’t have to be a born-again humpback fanatic to like this one. A lot of folks shoot better with this kind of receiver configuration because they’re less likely to see “too much barrel” and shoot high. I know because I’m one of them.

Nighthawk Custom Hi-Power

A better fit means fatter scores at skeet, trap or sporting clays. SKB’s new RS300 Target autoloader can be tweaked to fit darn near anyone. It features an inertia recoil system, adjustable buttplate and stock shim system and comb. It’s in 12-gauge, naturally, and can be had with a 26-, 28- or 30-inch barrel. For longer than I can remember, SKB has been building terrific shotguns—autos, O/U’s and side-by-sides—under their own banner and for others (Ithaca and Weatherby come to mind). This one has a suggested retail price tag of around a grand, and like all SKB products, it’s a lot of gun for the money.

“Close” is the operative word in regard to Springfield’s new M1A SOCOM 16 CQB (Close Quarters Battle). This potent little 16-inch barreled .308 brute features an adjustable buttstock mounted on a standard AR-type receiver extension tube. That plus a new pistol grip should make things handier than ever—the CQB is 10 inches shorter than the standard M1A. It’s got slotted rails for all manner of scout-type or red-dot optic (including the Vortex Venom) you can think of and features an XS Tritium front sight to work with its aperture rear.

Winchester’s track record with bolt-action centerfire rifles not named “Model 70” has been somewhat spotty, but the comparatively inexpensive XPR appears to be changing all that. It’s got a host of modern features—2-position thumb safety, detachable box magazine, barrel nut and polymer stock, but the XPR’s MOA trigger system—which features zero creep, take-up or overtravel—is pretty impressive, as is the rifle’s reputation for accuracy. This year, the new XPR Hunter— a Mossy Oak Break-Up Country camo variant—is available in 11 calibers ranging from .243 to .338 Win Mag.

SIG M400 Predator

Browning A-5 “Sweet 16”

Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 CQB

SKB RS300

Winchester XPR Hunter

With all the shootable stuff, I saw no shortage of optical items of interest. Two that particularly interested me were from Steiner (now part of Burris). First—from the tactical arena—was their new P4Xi riflescope, a lightweight 1-4X illuminated (six settings) variable on a 30mm 1-piece tube. The other was the HX roof prism series of binoculars, covering the magnification spectrum of 8×42, 10×42, 10×56 and 15×56. They feature an improved optical design and they’re tough too, being able to withstand up to 11 G’s of impact. What’s really neat, however, is the Fast-Close-Focus feature, which minimizes how far you have to rotate the focus wheel to sharpen the image at any given distance.

Safariland’s Pro-Fit synthetic IWB holster line now incudes the 575 IWB, designed for deep concealment. Available in one size, the Model 575 can fit more than 100 pistols. It features the company’s patented Grip Locking System to automatically secure the gun once it’s holstered. New variants to the Pro-Fit line are available in black and Flat Dark Earth.

Load Up! New Year, New Ammo

Browning’s inaugural ammo offerings include too many items to list here, so we’ll cull a few highlights. First off is the BXC Controlled Expansion Deep Penetrating Terminal Tip line of hunting ammo, featuring a 185-grain .30-06 load (2,700 fps) and a 145-grain .270 Win offering (2,960 fps). The BXR Rapid Expansion Matrix Tip line includes a 97-grain .243 Win load (3,100 fps) and a 155-grain .300 Win Mag offering (3,260 fps). For handguns, they’ve got the BXP X-Point Personal Defense line, which includes .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. There’s also a line of BXD Extra Distance Steel shotshells, BXD Extra Distance Lead shotshells, plus a BPT Performance Target line. Heck, Browning’s even got a BPR Performance Rimfire line.

PPU Ammunition of Serbia now offers two new loads for the 6.8 Remington SPC—a 115-grain FMJBT and a 115-grain HPBT, both at 2,674 fps. The company’s also got a new 140-grain PSP load for the now-neglected .264 Winchester Magnum, which clocks 3,018 fps.

PMC has two new SP hunting loads in its Bronze Line— a 55-grain .223 at 3,200 fps and a 150-grain .308 at 2,820 fps.
SIG SAUER isn’t known for revolvers, but their personal-defense ammo line now includes a 125-grain .38 Special JHP at 900 fps, a 125-grain .357 at 1,450 fps, a 240-grain .44 Special at 800 fps and a 230-grain .45 Colt load at 950 fps. All feature the company’s V-Crown JHP (there’s also an FMJ 125-grain practice load in .38 Special as well).

Magtech has a pair of .300 Blackout loads including a 123-grain FMJ at 2,230 fps and a 115-grain HP Flat-Base at 2,280 fps.
Federal’s American Eagle brand has a new line of Syntech range ammo which features polymer-coated Total Synthetic Jacket bullets to eliminate copper and lead fouling and cut down on splashback from steel targets. Current offerings include 9mm 115-grain at 1,130 fps, a .40 S&W 165-grain at 1,050 fps and a .45 ACP 230-grain at 830 fps.

Black Hills has two new Extreme Defense loads aimed directly at the CCW market, both lighter and considerably faster than the norm. One is a 100-grain .38 Special JHP at 1,275 fps, the other is a 60-grain .380 ACP JHP at 1,150 fps.

Hornady’s big ammo news was the Precision Hunter line featuring the ELD-X bullet. Initial offerings include 6.5 Creedmoor (143-grain/2,700 fps), 7mm Rem Mag (162-grain/2,975 fps), .308 (178-grain/2,600 fps) .30-06 (178-grain/2,750 fps), .300 RCM (178-grain/2,900 fps), .300 Win Mag (200-grain/2,860 fps), .300 RUM (220-grain/2,910 fps), .30-378 Wby Mag (220-grain/3,025 fps).
In their Dangerous Game line, they’ve added two loads for the .500-416 Nitro Express, a 400-grain DGS solid and a 400-grain DGX SP, both at 2,150 fps. And lever-action users will be interested in the 140-grain MonoFlex .30-30 load in their Full Boar line. This one starts off at 2,500 fps and we’ll be getting into it in more detail in a future issue.

Winchester’s new products include a new line of steel-case pistol ammo called USA Forged. The initial offering is a 115-grain 9mm FMJ load at 1,190 fps. In addition, the Big Red has a new 20-grain solid-copper HP “Power Core” load for their hot—as in 2,875 fps—.17 WSM. And in commemoration of their 150th Anniversary, the company is issuing special-edition collectible ammo boxes for four loads— .270 Win, .30-30, .44-40 and 12-gauge.

Remington has two new items on the shotgun side of the ledger. The Express Extra Long Range line covers the bases from 12-gauge to .410 bore and pellet sizes from No. 2 to No. 7-1/2. The company’s new Ultimate Defense Buckshot line features a pair of 12-gauge, 2-3/4-inch loads, one featuring nine 00 buck pellets, the other—a Managed Recoil option—features eight 00 pellets.

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