2017 Shotshow.

The Shotshow is over, and I am still recovering.

Thousands of guns.  Really great people.  Inordinate amounts of Whiskey.  Very little sleep.  Vague memories of playing blackjack and talking about shooting to a couple from New York.

At least I think we were talking about shooting.

Pretty much sums up my yearly trip to Vegas.

This year Shotshow show had a decidedly less political component attached to it.  Previous shows were oriented towards combating the Obama administrations direct action attempts to marginalize the firearms industry.  This year, the show literally ended on inauguration day.  Trump has already stated his support of the Second… and most are taking him at his word.

(If you have arrived here from our newsletter, continue reading here:)

Each year that I have been at Shot I like to look for big broad themes.

The first year everything was “Military Style” firearms.

The second year was “Women’s guns”  (These were basically the same “Military Style” firearms cerekoted pink.)

The third year we saw slimed down AR-15’s

Last year everything was about suppressors….

This year the theme could best be described as “big ass, aggressive, heavy firearms”

There were also a couple of products that I want you all to be made aware of:

Hudson H9

Ok… I really really wanted to hate this.  Hudson Mfg. developed the first Striker Fire 1911.  Completely metal frame (None of that plastic nonsense)… generally looks like a Glock with an integrated rail light.   It’s actually not a rail light, it is a housing for the full recoil spring.  (There is a place to attach a light, but with the light on the damn thing it would probably hang so low it would be well below the level of the trigger guard.)  What is instantly recognizable is the trigger.  It looks similar to a standard 1911 style trigger… except that there is a slightly raised internal trigger safety.  Apparently there are, or will be, thumb safeties you can purchase if you want the “full 1911 experience”.  Chambered in 9mm (gasp) it also comes with three 15 round magazines for those of you who live in America.  For those of you that are still operating behind enemy lines in occupied California, Hudson has not yet built a diminished capacity magazine.

Like I said,… I felt obligated to look at this monstrosity, but I went into it figuring that it was going to be a novelty at best.  After picking it up and dry firing it, I fell in love.  This gun is friggen awesome.  Now I just have to figure out how to get my hands on it to test it under live fire conditions!

CZ P-10

I love CZ rifles.  I am not a huge fan of CZ pistols though.  Except for the new P-10.  Again… this is their striker fire answer to Glock.  The one major difference:  A spectacular trigger.  Smooth press, glass break, and quick crisp reset… for anyone that is considering getting a Glock you simply must look at the CZ and compare the two.  Oh yeah… unless you live in California… Since it does not have a loaded chamber indicator, a mag safety, or micro stamping the California DOJ considers it an “unsafe gun”… so though it is a major improvement over other similar models as a subject of California (as opposed to a citizen) our rulers have a better understanding of our safety needs then we do…. so no CZ P-10 for you!

A06arms “Hog”

I met the boys at Alpha Six Arms.  These are Colorado makers of high end long distance rifles.  They have agreed to send over their “Hog” rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmore with a Vertex scope for me to T&E for an upcoming article I’m writing for Tactical World magazine.  

The guys from Alpha Six are awesome… and the products they make are flat out spectacular.  Built around an AR-10 style operating system, with a streamlined stock and ambidextrous safety I am really excited to get this and take it out to the desert for some long distance shooting.  Of course the fact that it is a semi auto, with a detachable magazine creates some interesting issues for us here in California…. I am definitely not going to make this featureless, and I really don’t want to screw around with putting a Armlock on it… so I’m going to have to figure out exactly how this is going to work and be legally compliant.

Sigh… I wonder how much time criminals spend making sure they are compliant with California’s firearm laws?