Industry Day

SHOT was difficult for me this year. As usual, I looked forward to the trip, to seeing the new products, and to seeing people I only get to spend time with once a year. But I just couldn't muster much enthusiasm. If you watched out live feeds, it was readily apparent that my heart wasn't in it this year.

For the life of me, I can't figure it out.

Nonetheless, I had a good time and got to put my hands on some really cool things.

GunDudes Jay and Mez, me, and GunDude Robbie

Industry Day started out nicely, as I got to shoot the new Mossberg 940 JM with none other than the Master himself, Jerry Miceluk.

I'm not gonna lie, I fell in love with the shotgun. But it is a bit out of my price range. It's well-thought out and Mossberg is doing a good job of listening to the Miceluk family as the end users. 3G folks are going to be falling over themselves to pick up this shotgun.

We also shot the much talked about Glock 44. I wanted to hate it, because I feel like Glock has been resting on their laurels when it comes to innovation. They were ground breaking in the 80s, but haven't been doing much in the way of innovation since. Yes, what they had worked, and changed the gun industry with their fantastic plastic. But ... they haven't done much since. They were very slow to market with single stack versions (G42 and G43), despite people clamoring for them. To be so late to turn out a .22 trainer is almost unforgivable, so I really wanted to hate this gun.

Turns out. I kinda liked it. A lot. Maybe not enough to buy one yet, but I do see that it has a place in my gun safe as a teaching gun. There have been some reported issues with the polymer on the slide cracking, and some feeding issues, but I'm not convinced it's as big a problem as some writers would like you to believe. I'll wait until this has been on the market a year or so before I made a definite decision whether or not to buy one.

Another highly anticipated gun was the Colt Python. I loved it. So much fun. However, my carpal tunnel syndrome did not like it. At all. We were only shooting .38 Specials, so nothing that I shouldn't have been able to handle, but after only ten rounds my carpal tunnel was flared up for two days afterward. I also managed to tweak my thumb and am now suffering from tendonitis. I think between the carpal tunnel syndrome and the tendonitis in my thumb, it's a clear indication that this gun does not fit my hand and isn't the gun for me.

The trigger was so nice and smooth. I'm not an expert in revolvers, but I know that pretty much every revolver I've shot has had a "crunchy" trigger. This new Colt did not. Other than the flaring up the carpal tunnel and giving myself tendonitis, I had so much fun shooting this gun.

Despite my love for fire power, I have an almost equally deep love for crossbows. GunDude Jay bought me one a few years ago for Christmas and I do love that crossbow.

It's awesome, but there's one itty, bitty problem with my Christmas Crossbow: I'm both too short and too weak to cock it. I've been threatening for years to buy an aftermarket crank, but those things are expensive!

Luckily, GunDude Jay loves me and would do the heavy lifting when I wanted to shoot, but that's hardly being self-sufficient. Imagine how happy I was to see the Mission Crossbows Sub-1 Lite. Not only is it compact and light-weight, but I can run it by myself without an issue.

With a price tag of $1,399.99, it's going to be a while (or never) before I can afford one of these beauties. I can buy a lot of personal training sessions to get strong enough to use my Christmas Crossbow for $1,399.99. 😂

Of course, I had to go by the knife/axe/shovel/star throwing (AKA Buckmaster) tent and throw pointy things, something I also really enjoy. I had left the boys to at whichever booth piqued their interest and wandered over to throw sharp, pointy things, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I do have some fond memories.

Being Industry Day, we shot so many guns they've run together in my mind. Mez took good notes about each gun he shot, but I only jotted down notes on the ones I was interested in, so this is what you get from me.

Eventually, everyone else will get around to posting their impressions of what we saw at Industry Day.

Industry Day at SHOTShow 2018

Jay, Mez, GunDiva, Robbie

Today, we were privileged enough to attend Industry Day at the Range. It's always a good time (who doesn't like to shoot other people's ammo?).  Here are some quick highlights, in case I fail to get more thorough posts done once I'm home.

Decibullz is a Fort Collins-based company that has been around for a while, though they're just now getting into the ear protection game. They were kind enough to offer free custom-molded ear plugs to the attendees today. We didn't run into them until later in the morning, but quickly switched out our "foamies" that we got at the front gate for our Decibullz ear plugs and wore them the rest of the day. Their basic model worked very nicely for the range; they have a different model that we'll be discussing in the future. Since we're from the same geographic area, I'll be scheduling a post-show interview with them.

Though I'm not a long-range shooter, Mez talked me into shooting the new .224 Valkyrie. They had the target out 960 yards, and I'm not a long-range shooter, but I'm happy to say I hit all but one (and that miss was barely a miss). I struggled initially with the trigger, as in, I couldn't reach the freaking thing. Could not reach it. At all. They instructed me to use a strong-side only hold, with my thumb alongside the stock instead of wrapped around the handgrip. It was a soft-shooting round and easy to manage. I'm certain Mez will write more about the ballistics of this round/gun.

My "must shoot" list was pretty short - I need a new duty gun, so I wanted to check out the M&P 2.0 compact. I've shot a few rounds from one of the range team members, but the more I get to handle it, the more convinced I am that this is the gun I need. While I was up there, I thought I'd try the M&P Shield 2.0 as well. I carry my G42 daily, but would really like to upgrade to a 9mm. I planned on just going up to a G43 (because deep in my heart, I'm a Glock girl), but the Shield might be a contender. I'll have to shoot them side by side before I make a final decision.

Again, on Mez's recommendation, Jay and I ducked into the Hudson stall to shoot their pistols. Immediately, I was freaked out by their triggers. I've shot Glock "safe action" triggers since I started shooting, I'm comfortable with the M&P hinged trigger, but this Hudson trigger was just weird. It hinges from the bottom of the trigger. It is supposed to make the trigger reset easier to attain, but while demonstrating it, the Hudson employee had an ND into the dirt just in front of us. Imma go ahead and say, that's not the gun for me. The boys, however, liked the gun.

If you look at the trigger closely, you can see the pin at the bottom of the trigger.

And just for giggles, here's a cute dog picture.

Apollo, the cutest PTSD service dog I've ever seen.

SHOT Show 2015: Target Stands - Right Now Range and Down Range Fabricators

Here are a couple of innovative target systems we found at SHOT Show 2015.

First up is the Right Now Range (www.rightnowrange.com) created by Neely Burks (Founder & CEO).  The Ready Range is a cardboard target system that is lightweight, portable, reusable, inexpensive and recyclable. 

The Right Now Range comes ready to use, find an appropriate place to shoot, unfold the Right Now Range, stake it out and you are ready to go. 

High quality targets are printed on the outside or tape your own to the front panels.  It also comes with a 3-tiered shelf for use with 3-D targets such as clay pigeons, tin cans, fruits, etc.  The shelf unit can be stored inside the main compartment for easy transport. 

Being cardboard, it is lightweight and highly portable.  No fear of richocets as with steel.  At $29.99 it is inexpensive.  Use the Right Now Range over and over until it no longer holds together, then send it to the recycler.   

I think you will get good value for your dollars with this product. 

We at The Gundivas are working to obtain a Right Now Range and will do a more detailed review in the future. 

The next item is manufactured by DownRange Fabrications, Inc.  (www.DownRangeFab.com)

Down Range Fabricators makes target stands for paper and clay pigeons.  What caught my eye was the hanger for clay pigeons.  These are inexpensive spring steel hangars used to hold up standard clay pigeons. 

You can use the stands manufactured by Down Range Fabricators or buy the hangars alone and create your own stand. 

The hangars are inexpensive, approximately .40 - .60 each and can be purchased individually or in packs of 10, 25, 50 or 100. 

See the website for details on how you can use these hangars. 

If you like shooting clay pigeons, check out DownRange Fabricators.  They have a unique product that will help you.

By: Mez
02/08/2015

Industry Day at the Range: Multiple Impact Bullet

Advanced Ballistic Concepts is a Colorado-based business that has introduced the Multiple Impact Bullet.  It piqued my interest and I took a moment to talk to Todd Kuchman about their product.



I'm not going to lie, these rounds are not cheap.  They're more expensive than the standard defensive round, but with a 14" spread from a .45 caliber round, that's a whole lotta center mass.  Unlike standard defensive rounds, these fragments are tethered together.  As the "bullet" leaves the barrel, it fragments into four pieces tethered together, so you end up with four points of impact: the middle slug travels down the center sight line, and the three tethered fragment spread to 14".  One shot, four points of impact.

It's a round I'm excited to try.

SHOT Show 2015: Thermal imaging for your Smartphone

Another unique item we found at SHOT Show 2015 was a micro thermal camera that attaches to your smartphone (Apple or Android).  It is produced by Seek Thermal (www.thermal.com) and retails for $299.  Yes, that is a micro thermal camera for $299.  

See thermal signatures out to 1000 feet.  The XR (extended range) variant will see objects out to 2000 feet.  

Most other thermal imagers are out of the price range of the average consumer, Seek thermal  specifically designed this camera to be affordable by the masses.  The free app to run the camera can be downloaded from the Apple store or Google Play.   

I don't have much information, best to visit their website for detailed information. 

www.thermal.com

Industry Day at the Range: Magstorage Solutions

This product is something that I'm so in love with that I've actually become a dealer.

I don't know about you, but when the insanity hit Colorado and we found out we were going to be limited in magazine capacity, I bought mags for guns I didn't even own yet.  The result is that I have boxes of mags just taking up space.  Space that we really don't have in our 647 square foot house.  Magstorage Solutions is going to fix that.

You can mount this in your vehicle and not worry about losing mags.

I must have this.

You know you want a set, too.

The mags slip in securely with a satisfying "snap", but aren't impossible to remove.  The holders are easy to attach to a wall, with just four screws.  Since the attachment points are keyholes, if you need - for whatever reason - to take the whole thing off of the wall, just push the bottom of the holder up and slip it off.

Do you want to keep your mags in your gun safe with your rifles?  No problem, they've got an answer for that too.  With the neodymium magnet kit ($16.95), you can attach your mag holder to any steel door.

The wall unit (holds six magazines) retails on their website for $35.95 and the car unit (holds six magazines) retails for $109.95.

I like this product so much that I see a give-away in the future.

Industry Day at the Range: WM Tactical

Over the next few posts, Mez and I are going to be talking about the things that caught our eye at Industry Day.  In years past, we've spend a lot of focus on shooting the new toys and haven't spent any time in the non-shooting area.  This year, we set out to remedy that and we're so glad we did.  We got to see some really cool things that we might have overlooked on the show floor.

One of the booths we stopped at was WM Tactical.  What I would have given to have these multi-axis sights at my AR classes.  Since I did both classes with iron sights, having the ability to adjust them 45* to either side would have made my life so much easier on the 9-hole.

Life would have been so easy if I could have just flipped the sights to the left.

I had the chance to talk to the guys from WM, and this is what they had to say:



I have to admit, I'm sold.  The retail listed on their website is $299.95 and I wouldn't be surprised if a set showed up on my AR in the future.