23 Jan 18

2018 SHOT Show, First Day:

Crowded show this year, in spite of attendance restrictions imposed my Show management.

We walked and walked, as always!

Of note:

GTM (Gun Tote’n Mamas), makers of an exhaustive and sophisticated line of purses, handbags, tote bags, etc designed for discreet concealed carry, now has added a diaper bag. Perfect for the task!

Vicki will be at their booth tomorrow for a book-signing.

A company called Sun Devil Manufacturing, of Mesa, AZ, is making and marketing an AR gas-adjustment incorporated into the gas key (gas spigot) on the bolt-carrier! Gas-adjustment on most rifles in incorporated into the gas-tap, somewhere on the barrel. This device is interesting and will be helpful to some users, assuming it holds up.

Angel Armor of CO, makers of amazingly light, stiff body and car armor, had a chest plate that stops rifle rounds (308), that weighs ounces. Amazing!

SERT makes a low-profile, soft M4 case, camouflaged as a skateboard bag. Called the “Sneaky Bag,” it will hold my M4, with stock extended, and a 30-round magazine inserted. Pockets for spare magazines, so they don’t rattle. Fits in my roller-duffel for air travel.

I will have a copy shortly!

My friend and colleague, Alex Robinson, of Robinson Arms, makers of the wonderful XCR military rifle, tells me that the 224 Valkyrie is the hot, new military cartridge, eclipsing the 6.5 Creedmore. He is currently making an XCR chambered for it.

My friend and colleague, John Klein, at Sage, showed me his ALCS stock for the M1 Carbine, SKS, Kalashnikov, and M14. It not only extends and retracts, it has a cheek-piece that can be elevated in order to provide the shooter with a competent cheek-weld when shooting a rifle with an elevated optic mounted on a rail. This prevents a small-statured shooter from having to shoot the rifle with his/her head floating in empty space above the stock.

DSM, makers of high-visibility banners proclaiming your status as “police” or “security,” that fit discreetly in your pocket when not deployed, now makes a rifle/shotgun “sling sleeve” that slips on your rifle’s sling. So, any time you deploy your rifle, the banner self-deploys and may prevent you from being mistaken for a terrorist!

I put a copy on the M4 I travel with right after dinner tonight!

Hi-Viz, makers of light-tube sights for pistols and shotguns has just introduced their “Litewave” pistol sights. They incorporate tritium, so they now function as night-sights. I’ll have a set on my Beretta APX shortly!
True-Glow makes a similar product.

The Sight Shield is an RMR-sized red-dot, made in the UK. It comes with spacers, so you can mount it at the correct height to accommodate co-witnessed BUIS.

I handled SIG’s new P365 pistol this afternoon, and I really like it! This is a striker-fired, flat, 9mm concealment pistol, designed to compete with the S&W Shield, Kahr PM9, Walther PPS/M2, and G43. The 365 comes from the factory with night-sights! The magazine is not single-stack, nor is it double-stack. It is one-and-a-half stack! That makes the 365 an 11 or 12-shooter (depending on which magazine you use).

This little pistol is a serious competitor. I may have to get a copy!

I handled Stiner’s compact T5Xi 1-5x rifle scope. This was recommended to me by several friends who do much 308 shooting. It has a traditional reticle, plus a red-dot. So, when the battery dies, the optic is still eminently useable.

Most of my rifle training is designed to address threats within 100m with 5.56×45 rifles. Typical domestic, self-defensive shooting scenario. For that kind of shooting, non-magnifying red-dot optics, like the Aimpoint and EOTech provides an acceptable compromise of accuracy with speed.

For effective shooting at greater distances, which is required in many military situations, one magnitude of magnification is generally required for every 100m of additional range. So, for shooting out to 500m, a 5x optic will be appropriate. Magnification doesn’t cause you to shoot better, but it does allow you to SEE better and make-out important detail.

So, for a 308 rifle, like the POF Revolution or the XCR/M, Stiner’s T5Xi represents a very good complement.

Now for a brief editorial:

I talked with my friend, John Ring, this morning. John makes the “Blue Guns” we use in training. His Blue Guns are just a piece of blue-colored plastic, molded into the shape of a gun.

They are, of course, completely inert.

I find them useful in showing students, in a classroom, how to grip guns, how to avoid pointing guns in unsafe directions, and general correct gun-handling. Because they’re inert, we can graphically demonstrate to students the “wrong way” of doing things. For that, I find them a wonderfully useful training-aid.

Ring’s makes a blue-gun copy of nearly any pistol or rifle you can imagine, so students can have in the classroom an exact copy of the functional gun they use on the range.

But, there are those who decree that blue guns be strictly handled exactly the same as functional guns! They insist that blue guns never be “pointed” in “unsafe directions.” They thus don’t allow blue guns in the classroom- but they do allow functional guns.

This is insanity!

What are blue guns for?

Whether or not you like blue guns, functional guns, regardless of their supposed “condition,” should not be handled in the classroom in any event!

“Condition-based training” with functional guns is inherently defective. When you have “safe guns” and “dangerous guns” in your life, it is just a matter of time before they get mixed-in with each other!

Functional guns are dangerous, all the time, and we handle them as such. That is why we run “hot” ranges.
Blue guns are not functional. They are not “guns” at all. It is thus safe, and appropriate, to handle them in the classroom for instructional purposes!

More tomorrow!

/John