2013 SHOT Show Day One Wrap-up

The first day of SHOT Show is manic, with tens of thousands of people wheeling and dealing over a massive trade show floor smothered in all things hunting, shooting, and tactical. I spent my day covering as much of the latest and greatest as I could—check out some of the new guns and gear (in no particular order) below!

Magpul

This year will mark Magpul’s formal entry into the AK accessory market. The first product they’ll be offering is a MOE AK pistol grip. It looks and feels great. The tactical trailblazers were also touting a Mossberg mounting their MOE shotgun forend and buttstock. GenM3 PMAGs were also everywhere, of course.

Magpul'd Mossberg — A Mossberg shotgun mounting new Magpul furniture.

Magpul AR Glamor New PMAG — An AR at the Magpul booth with a Gen M3 PMAG.

Oh yeah, and they had a minigunvan.

Colt

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deployment of the M-16, Colt will soon be distributing a retro AR-15 that channels the aesthetics and features of the early models.

Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson will be expanding their successful M&P AR line with the .308-chambered M&P10. Both the “law enforcement” and “sporter” versions I handled had 18″ barrels and ambidextrous controls. The LE variant featured a standard collapsible stock and flash suppressor, the sporter a non-folding Magpul MOE rifle buttstock and camo. Both M&P10s accepted a variety of .308 mags. They were also displaying some refined 1911s and M&P Pro CORE pistols. The modular optic options on the latter were very cool.

S&W M&P 10 LE — The S&W M&P10 “law enforcement” variant.

S&W M&P 10 Close Up — Close up shot on the S&W M&P10 “sporter” model.

S&W CORE Pistol — One of the S&W M&P Pro CORE pistols.

K-Var/Arsenal

K-Var has just recently revealed the new Arsenal SAM7 family of rifles and pistols: 7.62x39mm AKs built on hot-hammer forged Bulgarian milled receiver blanks at an absurdly affordable price for a milled receiver-gun ($1,199 for the SAM7K pistol and $1,279 for the SAM7R rifle). The superior quality of these AKs is plain to see and feel when you pick them up. I also got a quick peek at a very unique item—the MTK90 Silver Jubilee 35th Anniversary of the AK-74/90th Birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov commemorative rifle. There were only 400 of the Silver edition made, and each carries Kalashnikov’s signature. Time to start saving!

Milled Bulgy Arsenals — Two of the SAM7 series guns—the SAM7K above and a SAM7R below.

Milled Arsenal Closeup — Close up shot on an Arsenal SAM7.

K-Var 35th Anniversary of AK74 Jubilee Silver 2 — The MTK90 Silver Jubilee Edition.

Remington

Remington’s new Model 783 has received a lot of attention following its announcement, and having had the chance to handle one I can see why. The action is smooth and the whole package is impressive. They also had a beautiful Model 1100 50th Anniversary up.

The Remington Model 1100 50th Anniversary shotgun.

Israel Weapon Industries (IWI)

In all my excitement shooting the Tavor at Media Day yesterday, I forgot to check out the Uzis at the IWI booth on the firing line! Luckily they had a bunch on the show floor, and they’re just as awesome as their bullpup brethren. The image of the Tavor embedded below sports an 18″ barrel and an obvious array of tactical accessories. Combined with the 4x scope, it’ll make an accurate, well-balanced rifle.

IWI Tavor SAR 3 — An IWI Tavor SAR with an 18″ barrel.

FAB Defense

Several companies have been offering “survival” AR buttstocks recently, and one that FAB Defense is offering is their GL-MAG. It lives up to the same high standard set by other FAB products. Another innovative item is their buttstock with an integral monopod, which they had mounted on an AK. Combined with a bipod, it provided a very stable shooting platform.

FAB GL-MAG Stock — FAB GL-MAG buttstock.

FAB Monopod Stock on AK — FAB buttstock with integral monopod.

Barrett

As usual, Barrett brought out their big guns this year, but they also brought something a bit smaller—a couple of samples of their REC7 AR platform. The SBR variant was a particularly handy carbine.

That’s all I’ve got time to write about for tonight! Check our SHOT page for updates as the show goes on, and read my Media Day wrap-up for more gun goodness!

Matt Korovesis

I've been a history and gun enthusiast since I was a kid. I love to shoot just about anything, from silenced bolt-action .22s to fully automatic heavy machine guns, and I love even more when I get to write about them. My main interests are modern small arms and the military small arms of World War II and prior conflicts, with a particular focus on Russian and Finnish firearms. Reading about guns like the Mosin-Nagant rifle in books and on the internet got me interested in collecting, shooting, and writing about them, and I hope to do the same for others through my work.

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