SHOT Show 2017: First Impressions from Industry Day

Each year the day before the annual Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show begins, the media and some buyers and distributors are treated to opportunities to go hands-on with this year’s models of firearms and and fire a ton of somebody else’s ammunition.

This annual event was held yesterday with Industry Day at the Range in Boulder City, NV, and the SIG Sauer range event at a public shooting club in Las Vegas.

Industry Day at the Range has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception last decade. The event has become something of a SHOT Show in miniature. Yesterday’s Industry Day involved more than 100 exhibitors of rifles, pistols, shotguns, gear, apparel, and even archery equipment.

But for all the variety displayed at the two range events, the stars of this year’s industry day were the handguns, including a number of law enforcement applicable weapons from some of the world’s leading gun makers.

Handguns

Beretta showed its new PX4 pistol. The new PX4 features a reduced profile, a gray Cerrakote finish, Ameriglo night sights, and decock-only operation. Shooters can modify both the magazine release buttons and the grips.

Heckler & Koch let attendees shoot the new VP9 Tactical. The VP9 Tactical comes suppressor ready with a threaded barrel.

Smith & Wesson is rolling out perhaps the most anticipated handgun of the 2017 SHOT Show, the M&P 2.0. The new M&P 2.0 was re-engineered to address some of the issues that some shooters had with the first generation of the handguns. Key among these were the trigger and the grip texturing. The M&P 2.0 has a lighter, crisper trigger with a clear reset. And it also has much more aggressive grip texturing. I put a magazine downrange through the gun and found it to have excellent hand feel and a smooth trigger. Look for a full review of the M&P 2.0 in a future issue of POLICE.

Attendee at the SIG Sauer range event prepares to open fire with the P320 RX.

SIG Sauer —As mentioned, SIG held its own event featuring the company’s ammo, optics, and firearms. There were a wide variety of pistols, rifles, and even subguns available for shooting. But I was drawn to the P320RX pistol, available in full-size, compact, and a new competition carry model that features a ported barrel and a number of other design improvements, including an aggressive grip texture. The reason I was drawn to this gun is that it comes fitted with a SIG Romeo1 red dot optic, which can help improve the accuracy of less than crack shots like myself. I found that the optic takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of ignoring the front sight and focusing on the red dot, it can greatly assist your shooting accuracy.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. let attendees shoot the new Ruger American Pistol Compact. The pistol has a 3.55-inch barrel, points extremely well, and has a short trigger with a nice positive reset.

Walther’s newest personal defense pistol is the Creed, an economical model with no frills but excellent hand feel and solid shooting performance. The Creed lists for under $400.

Rifles

DoubleStar was touting a new rifle accessory, the Mortar Plate, and a new AR, the Always Ready Carbine. The Mortar Plate is a solid butt plate with a hard rubber pad and a rail for attaching a monopod. The Always Ready Carbine (ARC) sports a 16-inch lightweight nitride chrome-moly barrel with a 15-inch Samson Evolution handguard, which allows the user to place rails where needed without the added weight of a full rail system. Features include an ACE Socom stock, Ergo Sure Grips pistol grips, and Samson folding sights.

FN brought its latest generation of the FN 15, the FN 15 II series. The FN 15 II series includes a variety of models, including a tactical variant. One of the key new additions on the rifles is the FN handguard, which features an alignment mechanism that provides extreme rigidity and less deflection, ensuring that all mounted accessories will remain affixed without any shift in zero, despite pressures that may be applied during firing.

IWI showed its Galil and Tavor rifles. This was my first shooting experience with the Tavor 95 bullpup, and I found it to be a great pleasure to shoot. Recoil was minimal and the rifle feels so much shorter than a standard carbine even though it sports a 16.5-inch barrel.

Looking down range down the barrel of the Savage MSR 10.

Savage debuted two new AR-variant rifles, the MSR 15 Patrol and the MSR 15 Recon, both in .223 Remington with a standard gas operating system. The company also launched two .308 MSR rifles, the MSR 10 Hunter and the MSR Long Range.

Springfield Armory showed a number of pistols and its new Saint rifle. The Saint is a 5.56 NATO AR-style rifle that features a 16-inch barrel, a heavy tungsten buffer, a Bravo Company Mod 0 pistol grip, a Bravo Company oversized trigger guard, and a Bravo Company buttstock with rubber butt plate. It’s also a really smooth shooting rifle.