SHOT Daily - Day 3 - 2020 SHOT Show

SHOOTING HUNTING OUTDOOR TRADE SHOW 1979–2020 DAY 3, JANUARY 2 3, 2 02 0

NEW PRODUCT REPORTS SHOT Daily scours the floor to find the latest in knives from the show P. 12. Also, see what’s new in accessories P. 19

FEATURES

NEWS

SAFETY FIRST

RIGHT ON A new optics maker focuses on value and performance.

SEE PAGE 10

WileyX excels at making multipurpose protective eyewear with a sense of style. SEE PAGE 34

THE SIG STORY

INSTAGRAM MASTER CLASS

SIG Sauer is now known as an industrial colossus.

That wasn’t always the case. SEE PAGE 40

An industry expert says, “There’s a hashtag for that.”

SEE PAGE 10

THE DAILY NEWS OF THE 2020 LAS VEGAS SHOT SHOW BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE BONNIER CORPORATION AND THE NSSF A BIG DE AL

Benchmade Honors LE Dealer of the Year Benchmade Knife Company has named Tactical Pro Shop in Burbank, California, as its 2019 Law Enforcement Dealer of the Year. Tactical Pro Shop was selected for its focus and commitment to the law enforcement community in its home state of California and nationwide through its website, tacticalpro shop.com. This is the second time that Benchmade has given this recognition to Tactical Pro Shop.

“Tactical Pro Shop’s excitement and enthusiasm surrounding Benchmade products, programs, and service stood out from the pack in 2019,” said Troy Croum, Benchmade’s LE sales manager.

“Benchmade’s combination of outstanding product and seldom-needed warranty are a winning combination for us,” said Matthew C. Kime, president and CEO of Tactical Pro Shop. “I could not name a better example of a company that understands the value of its dealer network. And it protects that relationship with outstanding dealer programs and policies.”

NSSF Offers Real Solutions

A

t the State of the Industry presentation on Tuesday evening, NSSF President and CEO Joseph H. Bartozzi told attendees, “Your attendance and participation at the SHOT Show helps to support not only the lawful commerce in firearms, ammunition, and accessories, but also the many great safety and education programs that the industry, through the NSSF, supports. For example, our safety messaging campaign, Real Solutions for Safer Communities, highlights real firearms safety programs, designed to make our communities safer by keeping firearms out of the wrong hands.

These are proven programs that actually save lives and reduce the criminal and accidental misuse of firearms.

“Despite the disgraceful slander from certain politicians and some in the media, our industry is deeply and personally affected by the misuse of firearms. The difference between us and some politicians is that we are actually doing something about it.

“We may never know which child was not injured or killed because her parents locked their handgun with a Project ChildSafe lock. We may never know about a convicted felon or a prohibited person who tried to buy a gun at retail but

was stopped because of our Don’t Lie for the Other Guy program or because his records were actually in the National Instant Criminal Check System, thanks to our FixNICS initiative. We may never know about a suicidal person who didn’t take his or her own life because one of our members was able to employ our suicide prevention materials.

“But we do have evidence that our efforts are making a difference. Take, for example, the pastor of the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Memphis, who has used Project

ChildSafe to encourage safe storage of firearms among his parishioners and community.

In the words of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, ‘Thousands of locks have been given away. Families are talking, and the program is definitely helping make gun safety in the home a priority throughout Memphis.’

“And the same goes for our suicide prevention efforts.

With nearly two-thirds of all firearms-related deaths being suicides, NSSF is playing an important role in helping to reduce the rate of suicide by firearm. We’re providing edu-

cation to members of our industry and our customers through groundbreaking programs. We’ve partnered with the nation’s largest suicide prevention group, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense. These are just a few examples of the things that our industry stands for, what we support, and, just as important, what we fund.

These are real solutions for safer communities, and they are making a difference. Be proud of this fact.”

NSSF President and CEO Joseph H. Bartozzi told the audience at the NSSF State of the Industry presentation that the NSSF is working hard to provide real solutions for safer communities.

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1/22/20 11:56 AM

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NEWS

The Convenience Retail Revolution

M

onday afternoon, SHOT University hosted “The Convenience Revolution,” featuring Shep Hyken, National Hall of Fame Speaker and renowned Consumer Service Business author. Hyken shared an array of communication techniques as he engaged an enthusiastic audience in the finer strategies of range and retail customer service. His point to shooting sport retailers is crystal-clear: “Consumers want and will demand high levels of customer services just like they experience from online and service business like Amazon and Uber.”

One of Hyken’s examples of elevated customer service was Frank the Cab Driver. Frank made every effort through his friendly strategic customer service. He separated himself by always having a complimentary iced soda, a daily newspaper, and a spotlessly clean, air-conditioned cab for his patrons. Frank’s passion for people and his thoughtful demeanor grew his small oneman business from a local average of $20,000 to more than $100,000 a year in just two years.

“I even got a thank-you card a week after my trip to the airport and a Christmas card every year

Shep Hyken (right) told attendees at a SHOT University session that shooting sports customers are now demanding high levels of customer service.

until he retired,” Hyken said.

“Every year when I returned to Dallas, Frank would meet me at the airport, just like a limo service, but he charged me only the standard $22 fare. Frank’s business model was filled with thoughtful, careful strategies that every range and retail business can take advantage of.”

Hyken also urged retailers to engage their customers with sincere personal communication.

Asking about a customer’s children is one of the best ways to develop personal connections.

Other strategies included using open-ended questions that lead toward a sale. Instead of asking “Can I help you?” you should ask, “What can I help you find today?” or “What will you use that for?” Always strive to create a dialogue that moves the sale into a relaxed but active closing.

Another key point: Consumers demand a convenient and frictionless shopping experience. The goal is to genuinely service the

customer quickly and show interest in their needs. Targeted follow-through questions, which can take only a few minutes, can lead to much larger profits. Don’t underestimate the selling power of convenience and delivery.

“A SHOT Show hotel guest will pay $10 for a soda from the mini bar, even though a vending machine down the hall will cost only $3. It’s critical to always evalu-

ate how your services are delivered and just how convenient your company services truly are,” he said.

Learn from Frank: Keep your retail experience clean, comfortable, and sincerely convenient.

Shooters will reward your business with increased sales and product turnover, just because you asked the right questions and took the time to listen.

— Peter B. Mathiesen

LEUPOLD LAUNCHES PREMIUM EYEWEAR LINE

Leupold & Stevens used the 2020 SHOT Show to debut its new line of performance eyewear. The glasses will be available this spring. Designed, machined, and assembled in the United States, the performance

eyewear line takes full advantage of 113 years of optics engineering and manufacturing expertise. Prescription eyewear will be available by fall 2020.

All five styles are made from lightweight, ballistic-rated mate-

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rials and ship with scratch-resistant polarized lenses. Three of the five styles—the Packout, Switchback, and Tracer—meet or exceed ANSI Z87.1 high-velocity industry impact standards for eye protection.

All five styles share features, including infused polarized lenses, ideal for use on the water or in the field. Leupold’s Guard-ion hydrophobic coating will shed dirt, water, and fingerprints for a clear, crisp image, while the Diamondcoat-hardened lenses reduce surface scratches. A noslip bridge design provides allday comfort with soft-touch rubber bridge pads. Daylight Max technology, meanwhile, provides complete UV protection for optimal performance in any environment.

“Whether you’re on the range each weekend, hiking a ridge looking for a trophy bull, or just driving to work every day, our performance eyewear line has something for you, and every

model is designed, machined, and assembled right here in the USA,” says Zach Bird, product line manager for Leupold & Stevens, Inc. Leupold will be distributing this new line throughout its dealer network. SRPs start at $160. “This will be the first time many of our dealers will be selling premium eyewear. We’re pleased to be offering an extended profit center with our strong brand equity and optic history,” said Shawn Skipper, Leupold’s media relations manager.

The line was launched with a promotional nationwide treasure hunt with dozens of pairs of eyewear hidden in publicly accessible areas throughout the continental United States. The respective GPS coordinates were released on January 8, 2020 from Leupold.com/ The-Hunt. Most of the pairs were found within hours. Booth #13023. (leupold.com) —P.B.M.

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1/22/20 3:58 PM

NEWS

GUNS OF THE BLUE AND GRAY

The American Civil War was an event that tore the nation asunder and saw brother fight brother. It was also an era that saw rapid small-arms development, which led to the creation of some of the most iconic firearms of the 19th century. Cimarron Firearms is now paying tribute to the sacrifices made by the brave men who took part in the conflict with the Blue and Gray series. A total of five revolvers are featured in this limited-edition release, including the Northern 1860 Army .44 (SRP: $747.50), the 1860 Richards Transition Model conversion .45 LC. (SRP: $888.25), the 1860 ‘Grants Gun’ 8-inch .44 (SRP: $727.97), the Southern Leech & Rigdon CSA in .36 (SRP: $798.17), and the 1851 Richards Mason Conversion in .38 Special (SRP: $747.50).

Each revolver is a detailed replica of those originally used by the officers and soldiers who fought in the War Between the States, and each features, respectively, the Old Glory Flag or the CSA Stars and Bars Battle Flag inlaid in the grips. The flag inlays were hand-carved from a block of micarta knife handle material by Paul Persinger; the molds were made by Champe Jennings. Booth #15334. (cimarron-firearms.com) —Peter Suciu

The CloudLine drop-in helmet liner features Zorbium foam, which has strategically placed, hexagon-shaped pads for a more comfortable fit.

Team Wendy Takes Helmet Comfort to New Heights

M

uch progress has been made to improve the anti-ballistic characteristics of today’s tactical helmets used by the military and police forces. Changes have also been made to the liner systems to help reduce traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well. However, none of this matters if the helmets are uncomfortable to wear.

A helmet not on the head won’t protect anything.

This is why Clevelandbased Team Wendy has focused on not just the protective qualities of its helmets, but also comfort. The latest improvement is its CloudLine System, a new drop-in helmet liner that features the company’s patented Zorbium foam, which has strategically placed, hexagonshaped comfort pads that reduce hot spots while still maintaining protection.

“We optimized soft foam thickness and positioning throughout the helmet to have the greatest benefit to comfort, without compromising the protection people need,” says Ron Szalkowski, director of product development and research collaboration at Team Wendy, a company that has designed pro-

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tective headgear from the inside out since 1997.

The CloudLine was designed to exceed the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) blunt requirements (AR/PD 10-02), and to be compatible with nearly all standard ground combat helmets.

It can be used with the CAM Fit Retention System retrofit in those helmets where it isn’t perfectly compatible.

“This is the first liner we’ve designed to fit a wider variety of helmets, namely those for special ops communications,” says Szalkowski.

The system includes three

impact liner pads (front, crown, and rear), four thick, hexagon-shaped Cloud Pads, seven soft comfort pads in various shapes and sizes, and 10 Velcro brand hook disks.

“CloudLine sets a new standard for comfort and customization in combat helmets,” says Mike Romanchek, director of sales and business development at Team Wendy. “The Cloud Pads soften the contact points on the head and improve ventilation while maintaining the protection for which Team Wendy is known.” SRP: $109.99.

Booth #8311. (teamwendy. com)—Peter Suciu

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1/22/20 11:45 AM

NEWS

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE STORIES

Want a few hot tips to help you manage and grow your brand’s Instagram page? Michelle Scheuermann of BulletProof Communications, LLC, shared some key strategies during her Instagram master class on Monday during SHOT University.

Scheuermann shared that Instagram stories are one of the best—and easiest—tools to incorporate into your contentstrategy program. “We are finding that people are literally watching Instagram stories on their phones continuously and allowing one story from one person or brand to flow into another,” she said.

In addition, Scheuermann said the better you get at sharing the quality stories your fans want, the more you’ll show up first in the story feed. “Look at

your phones right now. Who are the first three people or brands that show up in your story feed? It isn’t chronological. It is ordered by those you watch the most.”

She believes hashtags still hold the key to success, and then delivered her top three Hashtag Hot Tips. “First, use a mix of broad and narrow niche tags, including your own branding tag and location tags, like #SHOTShow and #SHOTShow2020. Second, use your brand’s hashtag to encourage user-generated content, which you can then re-share in your stories (after receiving permission, of course). Third, though you can use as many as 30 hashtags, the sweet spot is around a dozen, which is a more easily manageable number.”

Right On Riton is on the mark By Robert Sadowski

W

hat’s in a name?

When Brady Speth, owner of Riton Optics, was product-testing his new line of optics with a legion of his military and LE pals, they experienced a recurring theme.

After each shot, after each group, he and his shooting partners would voice the same response: “That’s right on.” It was only a small step from there to name the new enterprise Riton.

Riton is a relatively new optics brand, though Speth has had

Riton RT-R MOD 3 RRD (Rifled Red Dot) is a robust, 2 MOA nightvision-compatible sight with an unlimited lifetime warranty.

plenty of experience in the optics world. When he looked at the field, he realized his biggest issue was that his product—essentially a black tube with glass at each end—looked like any other product in a very crowded space.

So he took a step back and thought about strategy. How could he differentiate his products from the competition’s? He decided Riton had to be a brand that offers more dollar-for-dollar value to the customer.

“We had to build a quality, high-precision piece of glass,” Speth says. “One that can take a beating and still perform. And if it fails, we needed to have an industry-leading warranty and fast turnaround on a replacement.”

Those parameters led Speth to develop an unlimited lifetime warranty, 48-hour turnaround on sending out a replacement product, and, above all, great glass.

“We provide trust with our distributors and dealers,” says Speth. “These personal relationships mean a lot to us and our customers.” Riton has an attractive behind-the-counter program for dealers, so it is easy and rewarding to do business with the company.

Part of that promise means pro-

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viding a superior optic. To that end, Riton offers premium HD Japanese lenses on even entry-level scopes. The quality-assurance process means scopes are checked twice before they are shipped to the distributor. This ensures the distributor gets a quality product.

More important, it means the end user will be happy. And happy customers help ensure good relationships between a manufacturer and a distributor.

Anyone who spends time behind an eyepiece knows it’s the details that make the difference,

like turrets and magnification rings that can be easily manipulated with gloved hands, true battery life, and glass that has clear, edge-to-edge color and sharpness. It also helps if that aforementioned glass doesn’t fog up when you take it from a 70-degree vehicle into a 20-degree field.

I’ve been running a Riton Mod 5 GEN2 3–9x40mm SPF hunting scope on my Savage 6.5 Creedmoor, and when I check my work through the spotter, I have to say Speth is right. Those groups are right on.

For 2020, Riton is introducing a new line at four price points for hunters, tactical shooters, and long-range shooters. I expect they also will be “right on.” Booth #428. (ritonoptics.com)

Riton offers premium HD Japanese lenses on even entrylevel scopes.

Products are checked for quality twice before they are shipped.

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1/22/20 10:01 AM

KNIVES

B UC K The Buck Ground Combat knife line includes this tanto-style blade as well as a spear point.

BEA R The OPS MC-800TI-S folder has a titanium stone-washed handle and a deep-carry pocket clip with a S35VN steel blade.

Versatility Rules at the 2020 Show

Multi-tools, fixed blades, and folders innovate alongside distinctive task-specific blades for the outdoors and everyday carry By Christopher Cogley

W

hen it comes to the knives you can expect to see at this year’s SHOT Show, allpurpose is the name of the game. From multi-tools to fixed blades and folders, the top manufacturers in the industry are releasing options for consumers who want one knife that can handle a multitude of tasks.

BO K E R The Arbolito Gemini G10 is a liner-lock folder with a satin-finished, 3.54inch blade of Bohler N695 steel with G10 handles.

Ironically enough, those same consumers are also demanding more specialization in the knives they carry. What this ends up translating to are knives that are very distinctly designed for tactical, outdoor, or everyday-carry consumers, but within those individual categories, the knives are crafted to be versatile enough to serve a wide variety of roles.

Although this contradictory trend no doubt seemed like an exercise in futility for the companies trying to give consumers everything they were looking for in one package, it ended up pushing designers to think outside the box and forcing manufacturers to seek out new innovations and new ways of doing

BEN C HMADE The Bailout has a 3.38-inch CMP-M4 tantostyle blade with a DLC coating and a green aluminum handle.

things in an effort to give people what they were asking for.

Necessity is most definitely the mother of invention, and as you’ll see when you visit the booths of the companies profiled below, the designers and manufacturers responded to the challenge in a big way. They’re introducing the kinds of new ideas and innovations that not only give their customers what they’re looking for, but move the entire industry forward.

Bear & Son Cutlery

At its booth at this year’s SHOT Show, Bear & Son Cutlery will be launching the new Bear OPS MC-800-TI-S. The Americanmade knife is backed by Bear & Son’s lifetime warranty and features titanium stone-washed handles and a deep-carry ambidextrous pocket clip.

The 2 7∕8-inch blade is made from S35VN steel with a satin finish and has fast-action deployment with Bear & Son’s ball-bearing washer mechanism.

The knife has an overall length of 6 5∕8 inches and weighs 1.7 ounces. SRP: $214.99.

Booth #10125. (bearandson cutlery.com)

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PRODUCTS

BROW N I N G The new Carbon Carry has a D2 steel drop-point blade with a titanium coating; it sports a laser-etched Buckmark on the handle.

Benchmade

Benchmade is releasing a pair of tactical folders that function even better than they look. The Bugout has a 3.24-inch, DLCcoated drop-point blade made of CPM-S30V stainless steel and features a black molded CF-Elite handle with a mini deep-carry pocket clip. The Bailout features a 3.38-inch tanto-style blade made with CPM-M4 steel with a DLC coating. It has a woodland green anodized aluminum handle; its pommel has a lanyard slot and a carbide glass-breaker. Both the Bugout and Bailout feature Benchmade’s AXIS locking mechanism, and each is available with either a serrated or non-serrated blade. SRP: $170 for the Bugout, $250 for the Bailout. Booth #10357. (benchmade.com)

Boker USA

One of Boker’s most reliable folders is getting an upgrade for 2020. The new Arbolito Gemini G10 has a 3.54-inch blade made from Bohler N695 steel with a distinguished satin finish. The knife has a G10 handle with scales milled in the Arbolito pattern and features solid-steel inner plates with a liner lock. The Arbolito Gemini has an overall length of 8.27 inches and weighs 4.8 ounces. SRP: $134.95. Booth #13167. (bokerusa.com)

Browning C R KT The M40 folder utilizes the knife maker’s proprietary Deadbolt locking mechanism and its IKBS ballbearing system.

Browning is releasing a high-end stag-handled folder at this year’s SHOT Show. The Illusion features a drop-point blade made from Damascus steel and has engraved stainless-steel bolsters and a folding liner lock. SRP: $249.99.

Browning will also be launching

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G E R B E R The Terracraft has a rugged, stylish look, with a full-tang

blade made of S30V steel and a G10 handle. The spine features a 90-degree angle so it can be used as a fire starter.

the new Carbon Carry knife that has a D2 Tool Steel drop-point blade. The knife has titanium coating on a machined stainlesssteel blade and features a laserengraved Buckmark on the handle. SRP: $59.99.

The Primal Combo is a fixedblade knife made from 9Cr18Mov stainless steel with a polymer han-

dle. The two-piece Combo has black-oxide coating on the blades and comes complete with a nylon sheath for $59.99. Booth #12740. (browning.com)

Buck

Buck is expanding its offering of tactical knives in 2020 with the

introduction of its new Ground Combat Knives (GCK). The initial offerings include a spear-point fixed-blade and tanto-style fixedblade, both available in either black or tan. All of the blades are 5.5 inches long and made from 5160 steel. The knives have an overall length of 10.75 inches and have either a Black G10 or tricolored canvas Micarta handle.

The $130 SRP includes an injection-molded MOLLEcompatible sheath.

Buck is also expanding its Talon line with the introduction of the new 808 Talon. The machete-style tool has a 10-inch partially serrated blade made from 5160 steel; it features a Black G10 or tri-color Micarta handle. The spine of the Talon has a built-in saw blade, and the blunt end of the full-tang construction is designed for light hammering. Comes with a heavy-duty, MOLLE-compatible polyester sheath. SRP: $220.

H OGU E The DEKA folder’s 3.25-inch blade is available with a clip point or a modified Warncliffe-style blade.

Come and Visit Us at the Kahr Firearms Group Booth

#13962

n

io 500 Limited Edit

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PRODUCTS

Booth #14504. (buckknives. com)

Camillus

Camillus is releasing a new Sliver folding knife this year that has a 3-inch blade made from 3Cr13 stainless steel. The sleek knife has a G10 handle and an overall length of 8 inches. SRP: $30.

In stark contrast, the LK6 folder has a stout, deep-bellied design and features a 2.5-inch blade of D2 steel and an overall length of 6 inches. SRP: $25.

Camillus is also releasing the Heater II neck knife with a 1.75inch spear-point blade made from 3Cr13 stainless steel. The $25 SRP nets the buyer a molded sheath with a beaded chain necklace.

For the outdoor enthusiast, Camillus is launching the Picar

M O RA K N I V The Garberg has a 14C28N Sandvik steel blade and a polymer handle.

hatchet as well as a High Limb saw. The 12-inch hatchet weighs 1.25 pounds and features a teak handle, while the portable saw has a 24-inch true chainsaw blade with 20 feet of cordage attached to a weighted handle— the added weight gives it enough heft to easily toss it over tall limbs. The Picar has an SRP of $30 and the saw is $40. Booth #15122. (camillusknives.com)

Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT)

Columbia River Knife & Tool is releasing a new everyday-carry folder that pays tribute to the timeless design talents of legendary knife maker Kit Carson. Based on one of Carson’s relatively unknown designs, the M40 incorporates CRKT’s revolutionary Deadbolt locking mechanism to help merge a classic design with the latest innovation.

The 4-inch stainless-steel blade has a spear point with Veff serrations and is housed in a glassreinforced nylon and aluminum bolster handle. The blade is deployed using a flipper and CRKT’s IKBS ball-bearing system. The M40 has an overall length of 9.4 inches. SRP: $150.

Booth #10051. (crkt.com)

Gerber Legendary Blades Portland, Oregon–based Gerber Gear is launching a new fixed-

blade all-purpose knife made from premium materials. The Terracraft has a rugged, stylish look with a full-tang blade made of S30V steel and a G10 handle. The spine of the Terracraft features a 90-degree angle so it can be used as a fire starter, and the $175 SRP includes a leather sheath.

Gerber is also releasing an American-made fixed-blade at an impressive $60 SRP. The Principle has a full-tang 420 steel blade with a Scandinavian grind.

The handle is a rubber-andplastic combo, and features three different grips for the most common uses in outdoor situations.

Designed as an all-around backpacking/hunting/survival knife, the Principle has a lightweight sheath with three different carry options. Its spine is also handground, so it can be used as a fire starter. Booth #13612. (gerbergear.com)

Hogue Knives

Hogue will be featuring its DEKA folder in its SHOT Show booth this year. Available with either a black or a stone-tumbled tan finish, the DEKA has 3.25inch blade made from CPM 20CV stainless steel in either a clip point or modified Warncliffe-style. The knife has an overall length of 7.5 inches and weighs 2.3 ounces. The USA-made knife features a G10 handle and Hogue’s ABLE locking mechanism. SRP: $164.95 to $174.95, depending on blade fin-

ish. Booth #15949. (hogueknives.com)

Kai USA

Under its Zero Tolerance brand, Kai USA is launching a beefy new everyday-carry blade at this year’s SHOT Show. The 0308 has a 3.7-inch deep-bellied blade made from CPM 20CV steel with a stonewashed finish. The blade is housed in a 3-D-machined G10 Coyote brown handle with a titanium back and is deployed with Kai’s KVT ball-bearing system.

The knife has an overall length of 8.75 inches and weighs a hefty 6.9 ounces. SRP: $375.

As part of its new lineup of Kershaw knives, Kai is releasing the Lucha balisong knife. The Lucha has a steel handle that’s bead-blasted and features a modern, stylish design. The slim, 4.75-inch blade is made from 14C28N steel with a stonewashed finish. The all-steel knife weighs 6.9 ounces and has an overall length of 10.25 inches. Booth #14223. (kershsawknives.com; ztknives.com)

Leatherman

As part of the revolutionary Free series it unveiled at last year’s SHOT Show, Leatherman is launching the new Free K Series this year. The line features four multi-tools built around an everyday-carry knife design. They feature a series of tools housed in the spine that are easily accessible and

L EATHERMAN The Free K4 folder includes seven additional implements, including a pry tool and a Phillips screwdriver.

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designed for one-handed opening.

Like all the multi-tools in the Free collection, the K Series features a magnetic locking system that makes it easier to open, handle, and close the implements.

All of the models in the K Series have a 3.3-inch, 420 steel blade housed in an aluminum handle.

The K2 has an SRP of $79.95, and features seven additional implements including a pry tool and a Phillips screwdriver. With an SRP of $89.95, the K4 has the same implements as the K2, but also includes spring-action scissors.

Both the K2 and K4 are available in a version with a straight-edge blade and a black handle, or a partially serrated blade with a satinfinish steel handle. Booth #14512. (leatherman.com)

Morakniv

Morakniv is launching two new versions of the sturdy Garberg knife at this year’s show. The Garberg Carbon is a full-tang carbon-steel knife, while the Garberg Stainless Steel is made from 14C28N Sandvik stainless steel.

Both the knives have handles and sheaths made from the durable impact-resistant polyamide that Morakniv is known for. The blade on each knife is 4.3 inches, with an overall length of 9 inches.

Both knives feature a squarededged ground spine that can be used as a striker with firesteel.

SRP: $89.99 for the Carbon, $79.99 for the Stainless Steel.

Booth #1446. (industrialrev

O U T D O O R E D G E The RazorBone is a new replaceable-blade folder designed for hunters; it stores three blades in its handle. Three drop-point blades are included, but other blade shapes are available.

PUMA The stylish Puma Sonic folder features a carbonfiber handle and a 3.6-inch cutlery steel blade.

S PY DE RCO The Spyderco Shaman is available with a tan Micarta handle and the knifemaker’s Compression lock.

.com/morakniv)

Outdoor Edge

Outdoor Edge is releasing a new replaceable-blade folding hunting knife at this year’s SHOT Show.

The RazorBone has three interchangeable blades designed to handle all the field dressing and processing needs with one knife.

With simple push of a button, hunters can swap out the 3.5-inch drop-point blade, the 5-inch boning/fillet blade, and the gutting blade.

All of the blades are made from Japanese 420J2 stainless steel, and each of them locks into the RazorBone’s black-oxide stainless-steel blade holder. The RazorBone has a polymer handle with rubberized TPR inserts for a secure grip. Available in either black or blaze orange, the RazorBone has an SRP of $59.95 and comes complete with three drop-point blades, two boning/ fillet blades, one gut blade, a

nylon belt sheath, and a polymer blade box to store the extra blades. Booth #1220.

length of 7.6 inches, the Whitetail Ranger has an SRP of $60. Booth #521. (pumaknife

(outdooredge.com)

companyusa.com)

Puma

Spyderco

Puma is launching a trio of folders at this year’s SHOT Show.

The Sonic has 3.6-inch German Cutlery Steel blade that deploys on Puma’s ball-bearing opening mechanism.

The stylish Sonic has a carbon-fiber handle and an SRP of $190. The Warden Featherweight lives up to its name and comes in at only 2.8 ounces. The 3.7-inch German Cutlery Steel clip-point blade is housed in a blaze-orange G10 handle. SRP: $45.

The similarly styled Whitetail Ranger has a green-and-black G10 handle and a 3.1-inch German Cutlery Steel blade with a black finish. With an overall

At this year’s SHOT Show, Spyderco is featuring the new Siren knife as part of its extended SALT series. Developed by professional kayak fisherman Lance Clinton, the Siren has a 3.61-inch blade made from ultra-corrosion-resistant LC200N steel and a coarsetextured G10 handle. The knife has an overall length of 8.75 inches, weighs 3.6 ounces, and has a deep-pocket wire clip.

SRP: $240.

The Shaman folder is a stout design with classic styling. The 3.62-inch CPM CRU-WEAR deep-bellied blade folds into a tan Micarta handle. The Shaman features Spyderco’s Compression

DAY 3, JANUARY 23, 2020 ■ SHOT BUSINESS DAILY ■ 17

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PRODUCTS

Lock mechanism and signature Round Hole ambidextrous thumbhole. It has an overall length of 8.29 inches and weighs 4.9 ounces. SRP: $320.

Spyderco is also releasing a fresh new take on the traditional kitchen knife. The Counter Puppy has an injection-molded plastic handle that features stylized “legs” that allow the knife to stand on the counter, keeping its blade down and making it easier to grab. The 3.46-inch blade is made from 7Cr17 stainless steel and is available in either plain edge or serrated. The Counter Puppy has an overall length of almost 7 inches and an SRP of $30. Booth #13113. (spyderco. com)

SOG

As part of its brand retooling, SOG is introducing several new knives this year that are unlike anything the company has ever released before. The knives focus on three well-defined market segments—professional, outdoor, and everyday carry.

For the professional market,

W HITE RIV ER This

SOG The Flash folder incorporates SOG’s ambidextrous assistedopening mechanism, and is available in five colors.

SOG is releasing the new Trident AT folder that has a D2 steel blade and features ambidextrous assisted opening. The blade is locked in place with SOG’s AT-XR lock. Available in four colors, the knife includes both a seatbelt cutter and a glass breaker. SRP: $105.

For the outdoor market, SOG’s new Aegis AT folder is designed to handle a wide range of tasks in the wild. It features a 3.7-inch, deep-bellied D2 blade and a textured GRN handle with an ergonomic design. The Aegis weighs 5.15 ounces, has an overall length of 9 inches, and is available in five colors. SRP: $94.

The Flash AT is a sleek, compact folder designed for the everyday-carry market. Weighing

stylish new fillet knife from White River has a CPM S35VN blade and an ergonomically designed G10 handle, textured for a steady grip.

only 4.4 ounces, the Flash has a 3.1-inch blade made from D2 steel and incorporates SOG’s ambidextrous assisted-opening mechanism and AT-XR lock.

Available in five colors. SRP: $83.

Booth #425. (sogknives.com)

White River Knife & Tool

White River is launching a stylish new fillet knife with a modern design. The ergonomically shaped knife has an 8.5-inch fulltang blade made from CPM S35VN steel. The G10 handle is adorned with a hypnotic green Mahi Mahi pattern; it’s scaled to provide a solid grip, even when slimy. A sheath is included.

SRP: $150. Booth #1114. (whiteriverknives.com)

SEE US AT BOOTH # L212 FISHING SHOOTING EXHIBITORS ATV/UTV TRACK DOGS BIKING ARCHERY CAMPING BOATS RANCHING 4X4 /OFF ROAD TRACK CONSERVATION LAND MANAGEMENT

Sponsored by:

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ACCESSORIES Profit Providers

These are products that can help improve any retailer’s bottom line Peter B. Mathiesen

J

ust as in 2018, handgun and long-range rifle sales drove most foot traffic during the last year, resulting in retailers reporting higher accessory turns on holsters, rifle cases, and slings. Women’s specialty products also made the register ring.

The accessories market continues to significantly expand at SHOT Show, with more new vendors adding to the miles of accessory aisles. Here’s a look at what’s new on the floor in 2020.

TIMN EY The Impact is a budget-priced trigger with a 3- to 4-pound break designed specifically for MSRs.

FAB DEFENSE The RAPS adjustable stock can be adjusted with one hand using the 1Latch system.

COMBAT WIPES Unscented and biodegradable, these wipes are ideal for outdoor hygiene.

Combat Wipes

Using a unique antibacterial formula, Combat Wipes will keep the user clean and comfortable.

These black wipes can be used in military, hunting, or night activities to improve concealment.

Each pack of 25 is easily resealable. The wipes are biodegradable, so you can bury them in compost or soil with a clean conscience. SRP: $7.58. Booth #61705. (combatwipes.com)

FAB Defense

The RAPS adjustable stock will enable any size shooter to engage their target from any position in a quick and precise manner. Using the patented 1Latch system, the RAPS adjustable stock allows for a wide range of adjustment that can be done with one hand, allowing the shooter to keep their eyes downrange. It is the first of its kind

PE LI CA N Cases in Pelican’s new Air Case line are deep enough to store cameras upright, which saves space.

with a memory feature, which returns the adjustable LOP to a pre-set position.

The RAPS also features an integrated cheek rest with a height adjustment of up to 42mm, and a generous non-slip rubber buttpad with 10mm of height adjustment. Manufactured from a durable polymer composite, this stock will withstand years of hard use under adverse conditions.

SRP: $175. Booth #20136. (fab-defense.com)

Hoffman Manufacturing

The new and improved 20-gun High Security Display has become more secure for 2020.

The display is framed in a fully welded, 7-gram steel outline and covered with 3∕8-inch polycarbonate on the top and front to reduce scratching and maintain clarity over its life. The secure cabinet allows retailers to safely leave products in the display overnight. Retailers can save valuable time, since there’s no need to move stock to and from a safe every day. Booth #4047. (hoffmanmc.com)

Klymit

The Drift Pillow is a versatile, memory-foam pillow that strikes an ideal balance between support and comfort. The pillow features a durable, easy-to-clean, waterresistant outer shell for travel, but when it’s time to go to sleep, the pillow reveals a soft, jersey cotton pillowcase. SRP: $34.95. Booth #1359. (klymit.com)

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PRODUCTS

M cM I L L A N The Z-1 stock line features a universal inlet, accommodating a wide variety of Remington-style actions.

The line will include a watertight O-ring gasket, a crushproof and dustproof exterior, stainlesssteel hasp protectors, rubberized overmold handles, and tough double-throw latches. They are also backed by the company’s lifetime guarantee. SRP: $187.50 to $361.50. Booth #20221. (pelicanprogear.com)

R I T E I N T H E R A I N The

Thin Blue Line notebook uses waterproof paper and materials.

McMillan

The Z-1 stock line features a universal inlet, which allows the accommodation of a wide variety of Remington-type actions in most barrel contours. The stock also features a low top line, to eliminate the need for bolt-release inlets and port cuts. The Z-1’s ergonomic grip and built-in thumb-shelf help optimize hand placement for trigger control and comfort. SRP: $700 to $900. Booth #15545. (mcmillanusa.com)

Pelican Products

The Air Case Line consists of four new longer and deeper cases that have been reengineered to be up to 40 percent lighter. The four cases are built duffel-style, making them perfect for storing longer equipment. The new form factors provide room for fragile and valuable items, including everything from cinema-grade cameras to tactical gear.

Configurations offer the choice of four interior options to meet almost any performance needs.

Classic Pick N’ Pluck Foam offers a manually customizable solution for fast and simple protection, with pre-scored foam to fit almost any equipment. A No-Foam configuration is also available. There are three large models that are available with wheels.

Rack’Em

The Rolling 32 Rifle Display will lock up eight rifles at a time for fast stocking. The rack will fit most scoped rifles as well as MSRs, shotguns, bolt-actions, leveractions, muzzleloaders, and air rifles. Butt cups ensure the guns will not be subject to scratches.

The rack holds the rifles at a 45-degree angle. It’s wheeled, allowing a retailer to easily move it from the floor to a secure vault.

The rack includes heavy-duty, 4-inch wheels, brakes, and bumpers. SRP: starts at $900. Booth #2036. (rackemdisplays.com)

Rite in the Rain

The men and women of law enforcement diligently work through all types of inclement weather. The last thing they need is a notebook that comes up short.

But the Thin Blue Line Notebook attends to their needs for in-field documentation with weatherproof paper and materials. It measures 5 inches by 3.25 inches, so it will easily fit in most uniform pockets.

SRP: $10.95. Booth #31203. (riteintherain.com)

reduced to safe levels.

A convenient neck strap allows for easy use. The Impulse foam in-ear hearing protection has a life span of two to four months, depending on use. SRP: $19.95.

Booth #12762. (safariland.com)

Timney Triggers

The Impact is a budget-priced trigger designed specifically for MSRs. The Impact will deliver a crisp, clean, 3- to 4-pound break and will drop in to all mil-spec ARs. The hammer is wire-EDM cut from S7 tool steel, which combines hardness to resist wear, with superior impact resistance without chipping or breaking.

Other components include wire EDM cut from A2 tool steel, heat-treated to Rc 56-60 for long service life.

The trigger is easily installed using the rifle’s original hammer/ trigger pins, and the proprietary design eliminates pin walkout. All triggers are hand-tested by technicians before final packaging.

Timney offers a lifetime warranty, and the trigger is made in the USA. SRP: $149. Booth #1411. (timneytriggers.com)

Versacarry

Known for holsters made with premium water buffalo leather, Versacarry has created a doubleply construction (Kydex is infused between the leather) for the new Compound Left-Handed Holster.

The holster is built with a recessed area in the Kydex to keep the front

sight from snagging when the firearm is drawn. The draw tension is adjustable to give owners the flexibility to adjust the holster to their firearm for customized retention, and it is offered in both outsidethe-waistband and inside-thewaistband models. The IWB model features an easy on/off clip.

There is no need to unbuckle a belt to take the holster off or put it on; the clip makes it simple.

The holster is available in three sizes designed to accommodate 90 percent of the handguns in production; this “three sizes fit most” positioning helps to reduce the number of SKUs dealers need to carry. The holsters are handcrafted in the USA and available in either black or distressed brown. SRP: $68. Booth #119. (versacarry.com)

Wiley X

The prescription-ready Kryptek Typhon WX Breach features an all-new technology that filters light to reveal detail and contrast, allowing you to see your objective with confidence.

Pairing the new polarized lenses with the high-wrap design frame and removable Facial Cavity Seal, it’s easy to block out glare. The flow-venting system allows air in to keep the wearer cool, which also helps the lenses resist fogging. Also available in a Captivate polarized bronze with matte hickory frame, the glasses provide depth perception with a minimum of distortion. SRP: $190. Booth #32211. (wileyx.com)

Safariland

Impulse Foam Hearing Protection are reusable foam earplugs. They help protect against hearing damage in loud environments, yet still allow ambient audio to pass through. Made from foam and hearing pro-filters, this product is ideal for the range, concerts, yard work, construction sites, and any area where loud noises need to be

W I LE Y X The new polarized lens technology in the Kryptek Typhon WX Breach filters light to reveal vivid detail and vibrant contrast.

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f e at u r e s

LUNCH ON THE RUN I long ago gave up bologna sandwiches for lunch when engaged on an all-day hunt. But even so, circumstances often dictate a quick snack on the run when you embark on a spot-and-stalk big-game hunt, even if what you really want is to sit a spell and enjoy a warm, soul-satisfying meal. Last fall, while on a pronghorn hunt in Wyoming, though, I learned there’s a great way to do this off the tailgate of a pickup with a downsized, wood-pellet grill from Dansons.

The Traveler, part of the company’s new Frontier line of Country Smokers, was built for those who like to take wood-fired flavor with them. It’s portable and compact, from a manufacturer that specializes in outdoor grills.

The hopper holds up to 5 pounds of hardwood pellets, while 256 square inches of on-the-go cooking surface provides plenty of room to grill. Power to the hopper is achieved via the AC power outlet connection located in the truck’s cargo box wall. You will need to leave the engine on while cooking, but the grill heats to a maximum temperature of 500 degrees F very quickly.

I shot my antelope in an alfalfa field in the morning. After dressing it out, we pulled the backstraps and then marinated them with stone-ground mustard and olive oil. When it was time for lunch, we parked behind a rock outcropping, to give us a break from the relentless wind, and fired up the grill. It wasn’t long before I could hear my backstraps sizzling on the grill, accompanied by asparagus and a can of corn. Now, that’s a real lunch.

SRP: $229.99. Booth #L219. (countrysmokers.com) —Slaton L. White

SIG SAUER worked with PolyOne to develop their first-of-its-kind P320 TXG tungsten infused grip module to deliver perfectly balanced weight withoutcompromising comfort or performance.

You can grill, sear, and smoke with the Traveler wood-pellet grill from Country Smokers. The grill sets up on a tailgate quickly, allowing hungry hunters to enjoy the luxury of a hot meal.

Haven’t heard of us? Just ask around your industry. At PolyOne we’re known for solving the world’s most complex material science problems.

LEARN MORE AT: POLYONE.COM/OUTDOOR

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FROMthe NSSF The object of the Partner with a Payer initiative is to connect shooting sports manufacturers with state wildlife agencies.

features a calendar listing all the events taking place, searchable by state, date, and type of event. NSSF also sends participating ranges and retailers T-shirts and baseball caps as promotional giveaways, which goes a long way toward getting retailers and ranges on board.

+ONE Movement

Team Effort

NSSF backs robust recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts By Robert F. Staeger

F

orget what you learned in school: The three “Rs” are no longer “reading, ’riting, and ’rithmatic.” (And seriously, who taught those teachers to spell?) For the past few years, among the outdoor community, the three Rs have been “recruitment, retention, and reactivation.” The shooting sports community’s R3 efforts are why you might be seeing new faces at the range or why that diner near your duck blind is a little more crowded at 3 a.m.

Conceived by groups such as the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, the Wildlife Management Institute, and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the R3 movement has the potential to dramatically grow the ranks of outdoor sports enthusiasts.

Now, NSSF is helping to lead the way.

National Shooting Sports Month

First up is National Shooting Sports Month, a nationwide push to celebrate and participate in the shooting sports throughout the month

of August. In 2018, there were more than 2,000 events across the country, but the month-long event in 2019 saw a decided uptick in participation.

“We ended up way ahead of where we were in 2018,” says Ann Gamauf, NSSF’s Retail and Range Business Development Coordinator.

“Events totaled to more than 3,300, a significant increase.”

These events range from firearms-safety classes to top-gun competitions and trap and skeet open houses, along with retailer and range promotions like sales and in-store raffles.

NSSF’s website ShootingSportsMonth.org

NSSF’s +ONE Movement encourages every hunter and shooter to bring someone new to the range or into the field with them. Launched in September 2018, +ONE is aimed at recruiting new hunters and shooters and reactivating those who have lapsed.

If just one in three hunters and recreational shooters adds a newcomer to their ranks, it will help secure the future of those pastimes. It’s not a hard ask, says Jim Curcuruto, NSSF’s Director of Research and Market Development.

“It’s just a matter of saying, ‘Hey Joe, we used to shoot together. It’s been 10 years, why don’t you come back out with me?’”

NSSF’s +ONE website portal (nssf.org/ plusone) has a toolkit for ranges and retailers to download logos for use in their businesses and on social media. “There are logos for all different styles of shooting,” says Curcuruto.

“Handgun, rifle, long gun, and featuring both women and men. There are a number of logos for hunting, too, which feature different game species.”

Another recent development is the +ONE Pledge, featured on both LetsGoHunting.org and LetsGoShooting.org. “That’s going to be a big push for 2020, to get people on that website and taking the pledge,” says Gamauf.

Another facet of this recruitment effort is that NSSF is working with the hunting/fishing app Powderhook on recruitment via an app that pairs hunting mentors with newcomers. It also helps NSSF communicate with that base of mentors moving forward.

The +ONE Movement encourages participation on many fronts. For instance, if a shooter brings a friend to the range for a National Shooting Sports Month event, that qualifies; NSSF even sent participating ranges +ONE selfie frames to commemorate and share the event on social media. Another good opportunity to include a new shooter is First Shots, a recently refreshed introductory safety and firearms handling program for shooters. In fall 2019, NSSF conducted an internal +ONE program and offered its own staff the opportunity to learn to hunt. Seven staff members took the opportunity, passed hunter education, practiced shooting, and went afield on a pheasant hunt.

As Curcuruto notes, “All you have to do is ask and provide the opportunity, and folks will jump at the chance. We are excited to scale the +ONE Movement in 2020 and encourage our members to promote the message to their customers and also conduct their own internal +ONE programs.”

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from the nssf

NSSF’s +ONE Movement has been designed to encourage every hunter and shooter to bring someone new to the range or into the field with them.

Another initiative is National Shooting Sports Month, a push to celebrate and participate in the shooting sports throughout the month of August.

Partner with a Payer

The object of another NSSF initiative, Partner with a Payer, is to connect the companies that pay excise taxes—about $700 million a year, $12.5 billion since their inception in 1937—to the good things that money does on public lands.

“We want to help manufacturers understand how the money is being spent by state wildlife agencies, and we want the state wildlife agencies to gain a better understanding of where that money comes from,” says Curcuruto. “And we want those two groups to work together to communicate the common goal of increasing participation.”

The R3 benefits of this are cyclical, says Curcuruto. “We increase participation in hunting and target shooting. That’s better for state agencies: They’re going to generate more funds through hunting license sales. For manufacturers, it means more people buying their products, which in turn will help the agencies, and so on.

It’s a connection that’s been waiting to happen, and we’re helping facilitate it.”

So far, employees from Colt and Smith & Wesson have gone afield with the Connecticut DEEP and learned about bear den studies funded by excise tax dollars. Staff from Smith & Wesson and Thompson/Center visited the Massachusetts DNR to see prescribed burns and learn how they improve habitat for better hunting down the road—another conservation effort excise taxes pay for. At the same time, wildlife agency reps and wildlife biologists have toured Mossberg, Colt, and Smith & Wesson.

“They see where firearms are being built, and how each one of those firearms is money in the pocket of a wildlife agency so they can do all their great work,” says Curcuruto.

There’s more of this in store: NSSF is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to scale Partner with a Payer nationally. Bigger will almost certainly be better, says Curcuruto.

“Every time we’ve done this, we’ve had great success on both sides. The manufacturers love going out in the field, and the agencies truly enjoy the factory tours.”

Hunting Heritage Trust Grants

On top of those efforts, how does a million

dollars sound? In 2018, NSSF partnered with the Hunting Heritage Trust to co-fund a grant project, which is awarding $1 million in grant money over 10 years. Most of the projects are R3-related.

Of the $100,000 awarded in 2019, the Georgia Wildlife Federation was granted $26,000 to continue and expand college learn-to-hunt programs. “We knew through research that there are a lot of college-age people who haven’t had the opportunity to hunt at home, but now that they’re away at school, they want to try new things,” says Curcuruto. After a successful pilot in 2018, the grant has enabled the project to continue on a larger scale.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance was another grant recipient in 2019, having been awarded $25,000 to develop a toolkit for hunter recruitment and retention—two of the three Rs— among hunter-education graduates.

“We know through NSSF research that about 70 percent of people who graduate hunter education will buy a license over a five-year period.

But what about that other 30 percent?” says Curcuruto. The project will help improve communications to hunter ed graduates, making it extremely easy to take the next step.

Grants were also awarded to the National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, and the First Hunt Foundation’s R3 program.

NSSF Research

NSSF’s research (nssf.org/research/R3) provides vital support to all of the organization’s R3 efforts. Top among this data-gathering is a report entitled “Anglers’ Interest in Firearms and the Shooting Sports,” which informs strategies for hunter and shooter recruitment. “We had looked at trying to get anglers to become hunters in the past, but there wasn’t really that much of a connection there,” says Curcuruto. Still, the research revealed something interesting. “While there wasn’t much chance to convert a fisherman into a hunter, there is a chance to convert a fisherman into a gun owner for personal protection and target shooting—and potentially to become a hunter down the road.” Insights from this report reveal how anglers feel about firearms ownership: They travel a lot, and want to protect themselves and their property in the outdoors. That suggests

a way in to make the needed connection.

Also of interest is NSSF’s webinar “Reactivating Non-Shooting/Lapsed Firearms Owners.” NSSF estimates there are 100 million gun owners in the U.S. “We think that 50 million of these firearm owners actively participate in hunting or shooting,” says Curcuruto. “That leaves 50 million people who have access to a firearm but aren’t currently participating. We reached out to those folks and asked why.”

The answers are detailed in the report, but two stand out: Some bought a gun for personal protection years ago, shot it a few times, and think they can protect themselves with it; others are just embarrassed because they know they’re not good at using a firearm.

“Obviously, the message to those folks would be ‘practice makes perfect,’” says Curcuruto.

“That’s why we developed LetsGoHunting.org and LetsGoShooting.org, where we’re publishing significant amounts of information beginners will find useful.”

Another report looks at increasing participation in hunting and target shooting through crossover. This is the retain portion of R3, giving current participants new challenges so they don’t leave the shooting sports. “We reached out to current participants and asked, ‘What are you currently doing with a firearm, what aren’t you doing that you might like to, and how can we get you to try it?’” explains Curcuruto.

Research like this also provides a clearer picture of what the stumbling blocks are to someone trying a new sport, whether it’s a matter of finding a range to try skeet or trap or navigating the complexities of getting an elk tag in a distant state. “People need both information and an invitation,” says Curcuruto. That’s why LetsGoShooting.org and LetsGoHunting.org were developed, to make sure current participants have resources to support exploring new interests. “We want to make it really easy to retain these folks and increase their participation in hunting and the shooting sports, to make sure that they don’t lapse out.”

R3 is a big job, and a team effort. It wasn’t developed by NSSF, but NSSF supports it wholeheartedly. “Everybody should be involved with R3,” says Curcuruto. “It’s really time to get the entire industry—the manufacturers, retailers, and ranges—on board. That combined effort is how we’re going to get new people onto the range and into the field.”

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from the nssf

Bridging the Gap

The “Partner with a Payer” initiative connects manufacturers with state and federal wildlife conservation agencies through field days By Jodi Stemler

T

he shooting sports industry has long been lauded for its role in conserving America’s wildlife resources. Since 1937, when the Pittman-Robertson Act redirected use of an existing excise tax on arms and ammunition, manufacturers have provided the lion’s share of funding for the restoration of wildlife and habitat. The model has been so successful that, in 1950, a similar tax on fishing equipment was created to fund sportfish restoration—and then, in 1972, the Pittman-Robertson excise tax was expanded to include archery equipment.

The Partner with a Payer program helps improve communications between the shooting industry’s taxpayers and the agencies that use the funds for conservation.

The result has seen $12.5 billion flow from the shooting sports industry to state-based wildlife conservation ($3.8 billion in just the last five years). In addition, $9.8 billion from the angling industry and motorboat fuels has gone for fisheries conservation.

This funding from the excise taxpaying manufacturers contributes to a large percentage of state fish and wildlife agency budgets across the country. However, there is a general lack of understanding by many regarding how these monies are used, even by those directly connected to this incredible success story.

In 2016, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), along with state and federal agencies, developed the “Partner with a Payer” initiative to help develop a greater connection between the excise tax-paying industry, state fish and wildlife agencies, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which administers the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program. According to Jim Curcuruto, who coordinates the program for NSSF, Partner with a Payer fills the need to improve communications between the shooting industry’s taxpayers and the agencies that use the funds for conservation. Through Partner with a Payer, states identify interesting or exciting projects they are working on, and NSSF helps to connect the states with nearby manufacturers for a site visit.

Manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson, Colt’s Manufacturing, Remington, Kimber, and Thompson/Center Arms, have participated in “field days” to learn more about on-the-ground research, conservation, or hunting and shooting access opportunities that are funded using excise-tax dollars. In turn, wildlife agency staff have toured firearms manufacturing facilities to learn more about what’s involved in running such a business and making firearms and ammunition.

In spring 2019, staff from Colt’s Manufacturing joined with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s wildlife biologists to visit black bear dens. The field day consisted of tracking down a collared sow, tranquilizing her, taking her vitals, and checking the health of her three cubs. The information that comes from these studies helps biologists understand the health of the black bear population, which could eventually sustain a controlled hunting season (a season has been proposed in the state legislature). To reciprocate, Colt hosted about a dozen staff from the federal and state agencies on a factory tour to show them the manufacturing process.

“Working in this industry allows for a lot of great experiences, but getting out in the field and seeing firsthand how excise taxes are put to use toward conservation is a day my staff and I will never for-

get,” says Paul Spitale, senior vice president of commercial business at Colt’s Manufacturing. “We are proud to be a part of this cycle in conservation, and appreciate the work done by wildlife agencies.”

In September 2019, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management hosted a tour of the Great Swamp Wildlife Management Area for Ruger and SIG Sauer employees. Participants learned about wetland enhancement, New England cottontail restoration, and early successional forest management that boosts ruffed grouse and woodcock numbers. After the field tours, attendees were also able to shoot at the newly enhanced Great Swamp Shooting Range that used $2.1 million of Pittman-Robertson funds for the renovation.

Later in the month, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources hosted employees of Remington and Kimber at the Portland Landing Special Opportunity Area. This 8,000acre property, formerly owned by International Paper, boasts a hunting lodge formerly operated

by Mossy Oak. The Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, which does not receive any general state appropriations, used Pittman-Robertson funds over the last couple of years to acquire the property, which offers outstanding public hunting opportunities and a facility in which to operate mentored hunting events. Participants of the Partner with a Payer event toured the property, learned about habitat

management projects, and got to join in a dove hunt.

The events are eye-opening in both directions. Companies get to see how passionate biologists are about ensuring fish and wildlife populations can sustain regulated hunting programs. Agency staff see a similar passion and pride in the building of our industry’s American-made products. In all, nearly 20 events have been held and more than 150 people have been engaged, representing six state agencies, seven manufacturers, and two federal agencies. As the program expands, the trade associations for the archery and angling industries are also getting involved.

Curcuruto notes that the program started small but is growing nationally. “The response from the manufacturers has been outstanding,” he says. “Partner with a Payer could go in a lot of directions, and we are excited to connect with our members as well as the state fish and wildlife agencies to increase the number of events.”

Tom Decker, a USFWS wildlife biologist who leads a team of other agency staff who are working on the Partner with a Payer effort, sums it up best: “Wildlife restoration is an American conservation success story—not just an agency story or an industry story. We’re all part of what is being achieved in the restoration and conservation of our fish and wildlife resources.”

For more information about how you can participate in a Partner with a Payer event, contact Jim Curcuruto at jcurcuruto@nssf.org.

Wildlife restoration really is an American conservation success story.

It’s not just an agency story or an industry story.

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from the nssf

The “Don’t Lie” program includes consumer-facing materials to help make people aware that straw purchasing is a crime.

Safety Begins with Customer Awareness

Three NSSF collaborations show the importance of knowing your customer By Robert F. Staeger

T

he National Shooting Sports Foundation has never been shy about teaming with other organizations to increase the safety and well-being of those who own, use, and sell firearms. John McNamara, NSSF’s Senior Director of Retail and Range Services, explains how a common thread ties together three of NSSF’s most important collaborations: “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy,” Operation Secure Store, and Have a Brave Conversation.

“Each of these programs has a strong customer-awareness component at its core,” says McNamara. “All three focus on training retailers to recognize signs of things that are happening with their customers.” Specific behaviors can indicate a customer’s state of mind: Are they trying to skirt a background check? Are they sizing up your security measures? Are they in an emotional state in which they might consider self-harm?

“In all three of these programs, if our retailers and ranges are engaged with their customers and asking the right questions, they’re going to start to recognize the

signs of these potential issues,” says McNamara. And it all can be done with the thing you do every day: providing good customer service. Being out on the floor, shaking hands, talking to your customers, asking probing questions to figure out what type of solutions you can provide. With all these actions, you’re getting closer to a sale—but you’re also getting to know your customer better.

“Don’t Lie for the Other Guy”

“Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” is a longstanding NSSF program in

which retailers are trained to spot potential “straw purchases”—i.e., purchases designed to get a firearm into the hands of a person who would be flagged as a prohibited person through a NICS background check.

A lot of straw purchases are for someone who’s already been denied a sale. In those cases, keep an eye out for someone associated with the person, maybe even someone with a similar name, such as a brother or spouse.

Their behavior tells the tale, says McNamara. “They don’t have any questions, they don’t shop around. They go directly to the counter and say, ‘I want this gun, this model.’ They’ve got the cash ready to go.”

When this happens, McNamara says, “Take some time to look back over your 4473 records to see if that firearm was denied previously that day or in the recent past. Also, ask the customer some questions: Why are they purchasing that gun? Are they a target shooter, a competitor?

What do they plan to do with it?

Generally, if someone is a bad actor, they’re not going to want to answer a lot of questions.”

If the potential purchaser starts to get a little frustrated or scared, that’s another red flag.

“An FFL always has the full discretion to stop a sale at any point, for any reason,” says McNamara. “Trust your gut. If you feel like something is wrong, politely tell them you’re not able to proceed with the transaction and ask them to leave.

“Create a good working relationship with your local law enforcement and local ATF office,” adds McNamara. “That way, if there’s ever a question or concern, you have somebody you can talk to for guidance. Keep in mind, though, that if you suspect you’ve stopped a straw purchase, but the person didn’t fill out a Form 4473, no crime has been committed.”

Another aspect of the program is customer education, something NSSF partnered with ATF to produce. “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” includes consumerfacing materials to be displayed in stores that help make people aware that straw purchasing is a crime and highlights the consequences, including fines and potential imprisonment. It also

helps with prosecutions, if it comes to that.

“As a purchaser, you have no excuse,” says McNamara. “You saw the poster or the cardboard cutout. It makes you aware that lying on the form is a crime, and there are consequences.”

Operation Secure Store

Another joint ATF/NSSF program is Operation Secure Store, which launched in 2018.

“With Operation Secure Store, we teach retailers how to recognize behavior that indicates somebody could be casing their store for a future theft. These behaviors could include walking around looking at security cameras and examining other security features on a building,” says McNamara. “They want to see what they’re going to be up against if they decide to come back after business hours for a burglary.”

Other signs include people lurking in the fringes of your security cameras or vehicles spotted repeatedly in the parking lot after hours.

“You do not want to ignore these behaviors,” McNamara says, adding that one way to cut down the vehicle problem is to share your WiFi password with local law enforcement and invite them to use your parking lot to take care of paperwork.

Every month, ATF and NSSF provide free Operation Secure Store presentations at locations around the country. “We go in and talk about that area’s crime trends to better educate retailers about what they might expect in terms of a burglary or robbery,” says McNamara. “Then we go through a risk and security selfassessment with them. That assessment can be downloaded for free at OperationSecure Store.org. “Any FFL retail business—NSSF member or not—can print that out and walk through their structural security or operation plans, and evaluate where they stand in terms of overall security,” says McNamara.

“It helps them take those first steps into what they can be doing better, whether it’s having more staff meetings to discuss security, writing operational procedures to address security, or purchasing and implementing camera systems, alarm systems, or storefront bollards to help deter theft.

During these four-hour presentations, ATF staff discuss fed-

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NSSF’s Operation Secure Store is helping FFLs reduce incidences of gun theft from their stores.

eral compliance, and a state law enforcement agency representative will typically attend and talk about state law. FBI/NICS professionals also often attend to discuss background checks, while NSSF provides the store security component with its team of consultants.

“After these presentations, when the store owners and managers get back to their stores, they can start peeling the onion of their security plan,” McNamara says.

“Since the beginning of 2018, we’ve performed more than 40 of these seminars. The average class attendance is about 75, so we’ve reached a lot of individuals.”

Early data indicates the program is off to a good start. After several years of rising burglary rates at FFLs, the first year of the program saw a 26 percent decline in the number of burglaries, and a 28 percent drop in the number of firearms stolen during these crimes. There’s been a slight increase in robberies, but on the whole the numbers are still an improvement.

OperationSecureStore.org contains ATF reports on national burglary and robbery trends, so FFLs can learn about what’s going on specifically in their state. The website also has a calendar that shows all the free seminars nationwide that FFLs can attend, as well as video resources, news, and matching-reward announcements.

“Any time there’s a burglary or robbery, ATF will typically put out a reward for information leading to the arrest,” says McNamara. “NSSF matches those rewards every time—so, say, a $5,000 offer from ATF ends up being $10,000 after our match.

“OperationSecureStore.org has a laundry list of service providers and product manufacturers for IT security, window film, CCTV, employee background checks, counterfeit detection, safes—all kinds of stuff. But I really think the driver of this program is the seminars. The program has legs. People are paying attention.”

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Have a Brave Conversation

The last program is perhaps the hardest one to discuss.

Have a Brave Conversation, conducted in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, is designed to prevent suicide.

The program offers a toolkit free to all FFLs, NSSF member or not. It contains a supply of consumer-facing “Have a Brave Conversation” brochures for distribution.

“The brochure talks about some of the ways you can start a conversation with someone you feel might be having a hard time in their life or might be struggling with mental health issues,” says McNamara. “It offers suggestions on how to offer to secure their firearms by either putting them in a safe or legally transferring them to a family member or friend while they’re going through this difficult time.”

The toolkit also includes business-facing materials that touch on how to recognize a mental-health issue. “We’re not trying to train people to become behavioral experts,” McNamara says. “But we are training them to ask questions. People, by and large, can recognize warning signs.

And when you see some of

those signs, it’s about having the courage to speak up and ask, ‘Are you doing okay?’ ” A final component of the toolkit is information on what to do if a suicide incident happens at your store or range. “Suicide is a very traumatic event, and it’s one that impacts your staff and other customers when it happens at your business,” McNamara says. “Our kit includes suggestions on how to respect the deceased individual’s privacy and understand their family’s rights. There are also tips on how to handle media requests, as well as a framework that business owners can apply to an existing crisis-management plan they may already have in place, including notifying the authorities, removing customers or staff from the area, and maintaining the scene for investigators.”

These programs help keep firearms out of the wrong hands. And in the face of so many calling for increased restrictions and bans that would do nothing to stop the crimes and tragedies our headlines are too often filled with, they underscore NSSF’s genuine commitment to real solutions to the issues our industry face—and make our communities safer in the process.

1/10/20 4:48 PM

from the nssf

NSSF’s +ONE Movement

Inviting just one person to accompany you to the range or field is the most effective way to protect our rights to hunt and shoot Brad Fitzpatrick

A

t a recent holiday party, a friend and I were discussing deer hunting when I noticed a gentleman listening intently to our conversation. I asked if he was a hunter and he said, rather sheepishly, that he had never been hunting and hadn’t even held a firearm. He’d always been interested in the sport, particularly in the concept of harvesting game as a source of meat for his family, but he’d never known any hunters and wasn’t sure where to begin.

I was taken aback, forgetting that even in rural America there are people who’ve never been exposed to hunting. His initial questions were very elementary: How did he obtain a hunting license?

Where could he hunt? How could the meat be preserved in the field?

For over an hour we discussed the basics of hunting, and I ended the conversation by inviting him to shoot with me at the range and promising we’d follow that up with a rabbit hunt in February once he completed his hunter-education course. He told me he didn’t want to be a burden, and I assured him that he would catch on quickly and that I appreciated his interest.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot tonight,” he said as we shook hands and parted ways.

I’d learned an important lesson, too. As hunters and shooters, we have a responsibility to find people who’ve never hunted or shot and offer them an opportunity to participate in these sports. It may be the single best way to preserve our hunting and shooting heritage, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is facilitating these efforts through its +ONE Movement.

A Call to Action

Shooting and hunting are rich parts of our American heritage, but we can’t forget that we are one generation—or one voting cycle— away from losing those rights.

Anti-hunting groups have spent millions of dollars pushing their agendas to voters while the number of hunters has dropped.

According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, approximately 15 million hunting licenses were sold in the United States each year during the 1980s and 1990s, but that number has dropped significantly. In 2016, there were just 11.5 million licensed hunters in the U.S., and total expenditures by hunters dropped from 36.3 billion to 25.6 billion, a 29 percent decline. This

reduction hurts businesses and our national economy, but it also negatively impacts wildlife conservation, since hunter dollars finance the bulk of state conservation efforts. And while roughly 30 percent of Americans say they own a gun for recreational shooting, hunting, or personal defense, there have been renewed attacks on our Second Amendment rights by powerful and well-financed gun-control groups calling for increased licensing restrictions, firearm bans, and financial discrimination against the firearms industry.

+ONE Movement

Now is the time to make a stand against political agendas that aim to strip of us our rights to hunt and own firearms, and you can help. NSSF’s +ONE Movement is the most direct means working to protect your rights to hunt and shoot. The concept is quite simple: By each of us introducing one new shooter or hunter to the sport, we can greatly increase the ranks of pro-gun, pro-hunting voters—and the results of such a collective effort could be profound.

“Imagine if every hunter and target shooter in America asked just one person to join them,” says Bill Dunn, Managing Director of Marketing Communications for

NSSF. “We could double our numbers immediately.”

That’s the goal of the +ONE Movement. A commitment from shooters and hunters nationwide to take just one person shooting or hunting would dramatically increase our numbers and drown out the voices that seek to strip us of our collective rights. This isn’t a fight that can be won with a top-down approach, however. It requires all hunters and shooters to participate.

“If one out of every three hunters brought someone new to the field, we’d effectively erase the nationwide decline in hunter numbers in one year,” Dunn says. In doing so, we would not only protect our hunting rights, we would generate much-needed conservation revenue that has been lost over the last several years.

NSSF facilitated the +ONE Movement with the establishment of its LetsGoShooting.org and LetsGoHunting.org websites.

These sites provide resources for both new shooters and hunters and mentors who wish to join the +ONE effort. On the hunting side, you’ll find information on obtaining licenses and a detailed list of places to hunt, while the shooting site offers resources such as help with locating a local shooting range. Both sites provide tips on firearms safety and ways for mentors who wish to join the

movement. These sites also catalog participation in +ONE efforts, so you can see how the efforts are positively affecting these sports.

Retailers, shooting range managers, and manufacturers can also provide support to the NSSF’s +ONE mission. Dunn says that shooting ranges can offer a “+ONE” discount night, for example, where new shooters are allowed to shoot for free or provide discounts for members who invite new shooters. Hunting preserves could likewise offer similar deals to those who bring new hunters with them, and retailers can display the +ONE logo and promote the effort in their stores. Manufacturers can provide discounts for +ONE participants, such as “starter packs” for new shooters and hunters that include essentials needed for hunting or shooting in a single convenient package.

There’s never been a more broad-reaching initiative to secure our hunting and shooting rights than the +ONE initiative, and there’s never been a simpler way for each of us to do our part. How you go about extending the invitation and encouraging others to do the same is limited only by your imagination. If we wish to continue enjoying our rights as hunters and gun owners, we must make our voice heard, and the +ONE movement is the easiest way to turn up the volume.

The concept behind NSSF’s +ONE Movement is simple: Every time we introduce one new shooter or hunter to the sport, we can increase the ranks of pro-gun, pro-hunting voters, with profound results.

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1/10/20 3:56 PM

MINUTES WITH…

Kevin Parsons

Founder and CEO, Armament Systems & Procedures

Solving Problems

A leader in the law-enforcement community says training is the foundation of everything the company does By Shannon Farlow

I

f you ask law-enforcement professionals to name the brands they carry on their duty belts, most would include the police equipment manufacturer ASP. For nearly 45 years, ASP, which stands for Armament Systems & Procedures, has engineered and produced premium batons, restraints, and a variety of other tools that officers rely on every day. The company also makes gear that will benefit shooting enthusiasts, including high-performance tactical flashlights, red polymer training guns, and pepper spray. ASP products have been proven in the field by police departments around the world.

Feedback from these agencies and officers continuously informs product development and improvement.

In addition to products, ASP provides soughtafter integrated tactical training programs free of charge to LEOs and agencies in more than 100 countries. The training programs are based in part on the personal experiences of founder and CEO Kevin Parsons. The former police academy firearms and defense tactics instructor is an expert on the use of force and the use-offorce continuum. Parsons, who holds a Ph.D. in Police Management, has testified on behalf of police departments more than 500 times, across nearly all 50 states. It’s his experience and vision that still guides ASP today. SHOT Daily spoke with Parsons about his company’s dedication to performance and training, as well as ASP’s growth in the consumer market. Here are some of the insights he shared.

ty so that we can meet the requirements of the officer on the street.

SD: Why is training so central to your company’s mission?

KP: We believe that training is the most effective means of improving the safety of officers and professionalizing the law-enforcement community. Quality training pays major dividends to officers and the public. This is why we are so deeply involved with the design of programs that help meet those goals.

SD: How important is ASP’s law-enforcement background to producing gear consumers might purchase?

SHOT Daily: What drives ASP to continue improving the flashlights, cuffs, and other products that you’ve produced for so many years?

SD: How critical to ASP’s product development is

KP: Several years ago, a writer came to the ASP booth at SHOT Show. He watched the interaction of visitors with the ASP personnel. He then came up to me and pointed to the people behind the counter and said, “Cop. Cop. Cop. Cop.” It was clear the people who represent ASP and explain how our equipment is utilized have experience.

They are skilled and knowledgeable operators from major agencies with many years of street experience. At ASP, trainers train. Salesmen sell.

We do not allow sales personnel to train lawenforcement officers in the use of law-enforcement equipment. We do not allow trainers to try to “sell” merchandise. The people who train with our products and show others how to use it do so based upon long years of very intensive experience.

your involvement in training law-enforcement professionals and others?

SD: What can consumers, who may not be famil-

Kevin Parsons: ASP is a problem-solving company. Through the years, each major advance that we have made in batons, restraints, lighting, and training has come from issues raised by officers. Because we have a deep understanding of manufacturing technology, we are able to apply technical solutions to realworld problems. This does not come quickly. In the case of our handcuffs, we spent three years surveying officers to find out what they required in a pair of handcuffs. It then took us eight years to solve the issues that they presented.

The result is the Ultra Cuff, which has been called the most advanced restraint system ever developed for law enforcement.

SD: What are your chief concerns when developing and manufacturing a product?

KP: When designing an ASP product, there is only one concern: performance. Our goal is to develop a product that is as strong and functional as current technology will allow. Once we have developed a design that an officer can absolutely depend upon, we develop a production process that assures uncompromising performance.

ASP’s founder and CEO Kevin Parsons says training is a fundamental component of the company’s mission.

Sometimes this results in a product that is higher in cost than our competition’s. However, the officers who buy something from ASP know that they can rely on it to be the best.

KP: Training is the foundation of everything that ASP does. We budget more than a million dollars each year to providing tuition-free training to the law-enforcement community, so we have a major investment in the quality of that training. To date, we have trained more than 50,000 law-enforcement instructors in 107 countries. The benefit to the officers is a deep understanding of how to use the tools we provide. The benefit to ASP is continuously learning the needs of the law-enforcement communi-

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iar with the ASP brand, expect from your products?

KP: In purchasing an ASP product, a customer can be assured of uncompromising quality.

Should a product ever fail, we stand behind it without question. The goal of ASP is to provide law-enforcement professionals with quality designs that meet their needs.

ASP products are considered by many in the law-enforcement community as the best of the best. It’s equipment that an officer can literally stake his or her life on. A very senior operator at

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1/10/20 3:55 PM

f e at u r e s

ASP has only one concern: performance. The goal is to create a product that is as strong and functional as current technology will allow.

a very large agency told me, “ASP makes things for the real police.” These are products that can be used when failure is not an option.

This is the feedback that we receive from the officers who use our products. It is something of which we are extremely proud, and a heritage that speaks volumes when civilian consumers consider those of our products they are able to purchase.

SD: How do you view ASP’s role in the marketplace now and in the future?

KP: We are proud of our position as a leader in providing innovative designs, solving realworld problems, and introducing innovative training. We view our role as providing support for a very special group of men and women. We do that through a network of great dealers, some very dedicated trainers, and a collection of products that increase the safety and performance of the people who protect the public.

SD: What achievement are you most proud of?

KP: The front page of the ASP catalog outlines what we call our Quest for Excellence: Innovative design. Flawless function.

Unparalleled service. These goals have molded the corporate culture of ASP. We feel a deep responsibility to those who depend upon our products each day for their personal safety and the safety of those they serve. We are exceptionally proud to be known as the company that is “Protecting Those Who Protect.”

Booth #11971. (asp-usa.com)

ASP surveyed LEOs to find out what they required in a pair of handcuffs. The result is the Ultra Cuff, an advanced restraint system.

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One of the advantages of the ECM (electro-chemical machining) process is it allows the creation of parts that contain no burrs.

A Cut Above

ECM’s precision machining delivers more accurate firearms

I

n the production of gun barrels, the traditional methods are cut rifling, buttoning, and hammer forging. But according to Simon Popecki, an electro-chemical machining (ECM) application engineer with EMAG (a company that offers specialized manufacturing processes and machines), ECM has distinct advantages over these methods—particularly output, consistency, precision, low tooling cost, and the elimination of post-rifling processes.

“Stress relieving or straightening can be eliminated with ECM,” Popecki says. “The ECM process can rifle profiled barrels or blanks, and Inconel barrels are just as easy to work with as ordnance steel. Unlike buttoning, ECM can quickly rifle a barrel with no distortion during the process. This is valuable in the production of airguns and composite reinforced barrels, for example, where the thinwalled barrel is more susceptible to distortion, which leads to inconsistency and ultimately a compromise in accuracy.”

To understand ECM, Popecki says, it’s best to start by acknowledging that it is not electrical discharge machining (EDM).

“These technologies for non-contact machining are routinely confused,” he says.

“But there are distinct differences. EDM vaporizes metal; ECM erodes it via electrolysis, which is less violent.”

Essentially, there are three key differences between the

two. First, although current is passed between an electrode and workpiece in both methods, in ECM there is no spark. Rather, ECM uses a conductive electrolyte where EDM uses a dielectric.

Second, ECM has virtually no tool wear. Third, in ECM there is no HAZ (heat-affected zone) like there is in EDM. This results in a part with no burrs, and the ECM process has potential for exceptional surface finishes even on hard-to-machine materials, such as those found in firearms manufacturing.

“Firearms take advantage of another aspect of ECM that has significant merit: namely, the ability to produce contours and pockets deep inside parts that would otherwise be difficult or even impossible to manufacture with conventional chip-cutting methods,” he says. “The machining force in ECM is just the pressure of the electrolyte, which allows ECM to produce features like high-aspect ratio holes in

conductive materials of any hardness.”

Furthermore, as material is dissolved in the electrolyte, it is evacuated from the work area and the tool imprints its geometry upon the workpiece. ECM can produce tight contours. For example, the grooves in a rifle barrel can be cut to a depth of ±2.5 micrometers.

“All in all, ECM rifling is best suited for high production runs with minimal variation, and here again ECM is showing substantial value,” Popecki says. “In competitive shooting, where match-grade barrels are the minimum standard, and gain twist and special groove profiles are prominent, the effectiveness of the ECM process is distinguished. On ECM machines today, a hunting rifle barrel and a military cannon barrel can potentially be rifled on the same machine. Caliber changeovers can be done in minutes.” Booth #15352. (emag.com)

1/10/20 3:55 PM

F E AT U R E S

Cutting-edge manufacturing operations help Leapers provide opportunities for business partners looking for an end-all manufacturer.

Total Commitment

Leapers/UTG is built on customer-focused manufacturing savvy

By Robert Sadowski

L

eapers started out like a lot of once-small businesses: in a garage. The first product the company offered was a compact 4x28mm riflescope. After more than two decades of hard work, Leapers is now located in a three-building, 150,000-square-foot complex in Livonia, Michigan. This is the home of the company’s headquarters, research and development, UTG PRO USA advanced manufacturing, and world-class order-fulfillment center. Coupled with the Germany-based UTG, Leapers serves customers across the globe.

Like many aftermarket product manufacturers, Leapers began the UTG PRO line to capture the swelling popularity of MSR and aftermarket customization. UTG PRO’s first product was an AR15 carbine-length, drop-in quad rail.

It continues to sell to this day.

Now, Leapers manufactures more than 250 SKUs (excluding OEM), including an entire series of dropin and free-float handguards, polymer stocks, buffer tubes, pistol accessories, and more. The most recent additions to the line include the TBNR M-LOK and Picatinny bipods.

In 2020, the company is introducing a UTG PRO optic series with a 1–8x28mm riflescope with a 34mm tube body and first-focalplane reticle.

“Optimizing our company to better suit the individual business needs of our customers is the goal we have set our sights on for 2020,” says Leapers marketing supervisor Kiyo Nakagawa.

“We’re developing more efficient means to support our customers so they can reach new heights and establish a dominating presence in

their regional marketplace.”

One way Leapers/UTG accomplished this was by creating stateof-the-art manufacturing operations such as aerospace-grade CNC machines and advanced RoboShot polymer injectionmolding machines. The manufacturing space features a Cerakote finishing facility as well as a Miyano nine-axis CNC Super Turning Centers. The idea is to help Leapers provide opportunities for business partners looking for an end-all manufacturer.

R&D and the main shipping and receiving hub sit next door to manufacturing. “We take special care and pay attention to the smallest of details when it comes to customer order fulfillment,” says Nakagawa. “We understand the value and importance of customers receiving the correct products and quantities, undamaged out of the box, all in a timely manner.”

Leapers is constantly striving to improve its business practices.

The company has already made

the switch to energy-saving and resource-efficient operations with the use of wireless and paperless fulfillment procedures, gravityfed pallet flow racks, motionsensor-controlled conveyors and lighting, and maximized shipping carton space algorithms within its warehouse.

Leapers sees 2020 as its breakout year. It figures to make large strides in product research and development, and setting forth a new level of distribution. Booth #14803. (leapers.com)

UTG PRO’s first product was an AR15 carbinelength, drop-in quad rail. Now the company offers more than 250 separate SKUs.

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1/10/20 4:00 PM

F E AT U R E S

The 457 Varmint Precision Chassis is built on an aluminum MDT-style chassis with either a 16.5-inch or 24-inch threaded heavy barrel.

Coming on board in 2020 is the 457 Jaguar, in a good-looking, dark beechwood stock and a 28.5-inch barrel with adjustable iron sights.

All-Star Lineup

The CZ 457 line, already a rimfire powerhouse, gets even better By Michael R. Shea

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s match director of a tactical precision rimfire competition in New York State, I’m often asked about new .22 LR rifles. The NRL22 series, which we shoot, has five stages of record to 100 yards, then we run bonus stages that stretch from 110 to 200 yards. It has given the silhouette shooters, sporter rifle guys, and our club’s small-game hunters reason to buy a new gun and optic for longer-than-normal .22 LR shooting. My answer to “which gun?” has become a form email: a list of four rifles that range from $1,100 to under $300. When I check back in with the potential buyer—every single time—they have bought the same rifle: the CZ 457.

Last SHOT Show, CZ announced an updated version of its popular 455 rimfire action.

The 457 took what made the 455 a hit and did away with a few things that irked shooters.

The stamped bottom metal was swapped out for a sculpted twopiece system. The push-to-fire safety runs the “correct” American way—forward to fire.

The bolt rotation was tweaked from 90 degrees to 60, so big scopes can be mounted lower.

CZ also lightened the firing pin for faster strikes. The barrels remain interchangeable, with calibers offered in .22 LR, .22

WMR, and .17 HMR. There’s a robust barrel aftermarket, too, with many of the top makers in the country offering pre-fit 455 tubes that work with the 457.

The 457 launched with a deep bench of nine models, all kitted out for various use: The 457 American, with a standard “American” style beavertail stock, intended for scoped shooting; the 457 Varmint, a heavy-barreled version of the American; the 457 Varmint MTR, an improved Varmint with a distinctive Turkish walnut stock, a match barrel with the tightest .22 LR chamber allowed

by C.I.P. (the international small-arms proofing organization), and an excellent trigger; the 457 Lux, with a European hogback laser-etched stock in premium Turkish walnut, with a 24.8-inch barrel and fixed iron sights; the 457 Training Rifle, a dressed-down version of the Lux, with less expensive wood (great for new shooters or a backyard iron-sighted plinker); the 457 Scout, a youth rifle with a 12-inch length of pull and a threaded 16.5-inch barrel; the 457 ProVarmint SuppressorReady, which sits in a Boyd’s ProVarmint stock and comes with a 16.5-inch threaded barrel; the 457 Varmint At-One, in an adjustable At-One stock and 24-inch barrel; and the 457 Varmint Precision Trainer, outfitted in a Manners composite stock with a 24-inch barrel.

That’s a lineup that rivals the depth of the immortal 1927 New York Yankees. And this year, CZ-USA is adding to the line.

Joining the team are the 457 Jaguar, in a good-looking, dark beechwood stock and a 28.5-inch barrel with adjustable iron sights and the 457 Varmint Precision Chassis, in an aluminum MDTstyle chassis with heavy barrel options. A threaded 16.5-inch and a 24-inch are available.

Booth #11221. (cz-usa.com) From top: Varmint At-One, ProVarmint Suppressor Ready, Varmint Precision Trainer, and American.

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CHRISTENSEN ARMS EXPANDS LINEUP Christensen Arms is expanding its lineup to include new titanium editions of its Mesa and Ridgeline rifles.

“For too long, rifles built with lightweight titanium actions have been beyond the financial reach of most hunters,” says Jason Christensen, president of Christensen Arms. “We’re excited to change that, starting with these two new products.”

The Mesa Titanium Edition (SRP: $1,795) is, Christensen says, “the most accessible titanium-action rifle ever built. The compact hunting rifle features a featherlight contour stainless-steel barrel with a beadblasted finish, a removable seamless radial brake, and a custom Titanium Edition floorplate.”

The carbon-fiber composite sporter stock is painted with a new Metallic Grey with Black Webbing look. The special edition is offered in .308 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, and .300 Win. Mag. It weighs 6.1 pounds.

The Ridgeline Titanium Edition (SRP: $2,495) combines a precision titanium action with a Christensen Arms carbon-fiber barrel at an impressive price. The firearm features a titanium radial brake, spiral fluted bolt, custom Titanium Edition floorplate, and a carbon-fiber composite sporter stock with a new Metallic Grey with Black Webbing finish. It will be offered in .308 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, and .300 Win. Mag. It weighs 5.8 pounds.

“With almost 25 years of firearms experience focused on incorporating top-tier aerospace materials and processes into production, Christensen Arms manufactures some of the most lightweight, precise, and accurate firearms in the industry,” Christensen says. “From the very first prototype to current models, the firearms have always been the product of American engineering and the best of American manufacturing.”

Booth #12529. (christensenarms.com)

Wiley X’s Captivate lens blocks higher degrees of UV exposure while also filtering the light spectrum for improved clarity.

Safety First

Wiley X excels at making multipurpose protective eyewear By Kris Millgate

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iley X headquarters is unassuming. It’s situated in a neatly designed corporate area of Livermore, California. The chaos of crowded San Francisco is close, but not too close. Livermore National Laboratory, home of the world’s largest laser system, is the company’s neighbor. So is Concannon Vineyard: The grape grower commissioned by the Catholic Church to produce sacramental wine during Prohibition is just a few blocks by bike from Wiley X. By comparison, Wiley X, the protective eyewear maker, seems mild. Mild until you enter the building.

“I think we’ve made safety cool,” says Dan Freeman, coowner of Wiley X Eyewear.

“It doesn’t look like dorky eyewear, and this product will protect you.”

Wiley X makes safetyadded sunglasses plus goggles and other styles of eye protection. Freeman’s father, Myles Sr., started the company in 1987. Freeman joined in 1994. Now he and his brother Myles Jr. oversee Wiley X and its 120 employees.

The company’s optical showroom has prominent placing at the office entrance, but it’s what goes on in the back of the building that takes up most of the space and hogs all of the attention. Machines cranking out 100 pairs of eyewear an hour set the pace for lens production in this familyowned business. From goggles to glasses, stacks of eye protection are shaped for function, then wrapped in even more protective frames. For every

10,000 pairs made, 40 pairs are tested, and they’re tested for more than sun exposure.

They’re tested for safety.

“We are not the first to bring safety to the market,” Freeman says. “But we did it the right way.”

By “right,” he means repetitive. A tennis ball is shot 21 times into the face of a mannequin wearing youth safety goggles. That’s 21 times per pair. Ammo is fired six times on one pair from different angles. And weighted chunks

Wiley X subjects its lenses and frames to a series of tests to check for safety.

of metal are dropped directly on another mannequin’s face all day long to test impact resistance. Throw in some heat and humidity drills, too.

“It’s hard to complain about my job,” says Brian Johnson, Wiley X Eyewear quality assurance technician.

“I get to shoot stuff, drop stuff, and burn stuff.”

Wiley X spent nearly a year designing its new Captivate technology, a lens that blocks higher degrees of UV exposure while also filtering the light spectrum for improved clarity. That clarity makes colors pop in the field and enhances depth perception for tactical missions and hunting expeditions. The lens is also ANSI-certified. Eyewear meeting this standard is considered safety wear, too, even if it looks like a cool pair of sunglasses instead of the dorky safety goggles Freeman avoids. Booth #32211. (wileyx.com)

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The Supercell recoil pad helps make the V3 a very comfortable gun to shoot. The oversize bolt release is also a nice touch.

Safe at Home

Remington’s V3 Tactical line takes the concept of the defensive shotgun to the next level

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By T. Logan Metesh emington’s new tactical line of shotguns has been designed with home defense in mind. The combination of the Versaport gas system, which self-regulates gas pressure based on the length of the shell, and the Supercell recoil pad has made for an exceptionally reliable and incredibly soft-shooting shotgun.

The shotgun features an oversize charging handle, bolt release, and safety button, as well as a flared loading port—all designed for easier and faster manipulation in a defensive situation. Outfitted with an 18.5inch Fixed Cylinder-bore barrel, the V3 Tactical is available with a traditional shotgun vent-rib bead sight or an XS low-profile rifle sight.

“The sight options are designed to make both shotgunners and rifle shooters feel right at home when they shoulder the gun and take aim,” says Eric Suarez, Remington’s public relations manager.

During an abbreviated Gunsite 260 Shotgun course last summer, the V3 Tactical and I enjoyed all of the hallmarks of a Gunsite experience: blistering hot Arizona sunshine, lots of gusts and dust, and even a torrential downpour.

Outfitted with an 18.5-inch Fixed Cylinder-bore barrel, the V3 Tactical is available with a shotgun vent-rib bead sight or a low-profile rifle sight.

Despite all this, my shotgun ran through more than 500 rounds without a single hiccup.

Throughout the various exercises, we shot 00 buck, bird shot, and 1-ounce slugs, depending on the scenario at hand. I rang steel with slugs at 50 yards, cleared a shoot house successfully, and ran both the “Scrambler” and “Urban Scrambler” courses. I performed tactical reloads on the move, and repeatedly carried out hostage rescue shots at 10 yards with 00 buck—all without injuring the hostage with even a single pellet.

Because of the Versaport system,

the gun adapted to the three different loads with ease. “Versaport allows the gun to run as smoothly as a sewing machine, regardless of the load,” says Suarez.

When it comes to a defensive/ tactical shotgun, reliability is job number one, and the V3 Tactical proved that it is nothing if not reliable. Through all of the conditions mentioned above, I did not clean the gun. At the end of the first day, I dabbed a few drops of oil on the bolt, but that was it.

I didn’t wipe it down, swab it out, or anything else that even remotely could be considered cleaning and/or maintenance.

From the first shot to the last, this shotgun flat-out ran.

To me, the most impressive aspect of this gun was in the felt recoil—or rather, the lack thereof.

After shooting through a couple of boxes of target loads with my vintage Browning Auto-5, I can feel that punishment in my shoulder.

After two days and countless rounds through the V3 Tactical, I didn’t feel a thing. That’s a testament to the Versaport and Supercell combination.

Both versions of the 12-gauge V3 Tactical are 39.5 inches in overall length, have a capacity of 6+1, and weigh 7.625 pounds.

SRP: $995, vent rib; $1,045, XS low-profile sights. Booth #14229. (remington.com)

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Fresh Take Thompson/Center reinvigorates its centerfire

bolt gun lines with all-new Venture II and Compass II models, including a budget-friendly utility model By David Maccar The author with one of the first T/C Venture II rifles to be assembled and the pronghorn antelope he harvested with it near Ucross, Wyoming.

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hompson/Center has redesigned two of its best-selling hunting rifles for 2020 with the Venture II and Compass II, incorporating modern attributes that make them feature-rich bolt guns representing a great value for their price point.

I got the chance to hunt antelope in northeastern Wyoming with one of the first Venture II rifles to come off the line this past October. I also put in a lot of trigger time with the gun before and after I filled my tag.

The rifle’s new two-part trigger, which works somewhat like Savage’s AccuTrigger, is excellent and addresses one of users’ most common gripes about the old Venture. It breaks clean at just around 4 pounds with no creep at all.

The Venture II I used on the

hunt was chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor and fed from a threeround, staggered stack, detachable box magazine. Out of the box, the bolt was stiff, as is typical of a new gun, but after working the bolt a few dozen times and a couple of long-range sessions, it became a lot smoother.

Ergonomically, the synthetic stock is robust and comfortable to shoot with from a variety of positions. Hogue panels on the grip and stock make it easy to hold with wet or gloved hands.

The threaded 22-inch barrel is suppressor-ready with a 1:8 twist and 5R rifling. An improved Weather Shield coating on the receiver, bolt, and barrel means you don’t have to worry about this gun getting dirty, muddy, or bloody in the field. I left my gun crudded up for a full 24 hours and there wasn’t a spot of corrosion anywhere when I finally cleaned it, and the grime wiped off with ease. The rifle is 42 inches overall with an unloaded weight of 7.3 pounds, making it an easy-carrying gun no matter what kind of

hunting you’re doing.

On the morning of the first day, I used the Venture II, topped with a Crimson Trace scope, to tag a solid pronghorn buck from about 210 yards from a seated position with no trouble at all— and the animal fell right where it was shot. The rifle held up to some rough treatment: sliding along rocky ground and being hauled through brush on the stalk, not to mention a long two days of being tossed in and out of trucks and side-by-sides as those of us with filled tags pursued coyotes and prairie dogs. Once it was cleaned up, you would never know what it’d been through.

At the range, once I got used to it and got my scope dialed in, I began competing with the other writers on the hunt, who were using Venture II and Compass II rifles, to see who could hit the 380-yard gong offhand after we got bored shooting off rests. It was easier to count our misses than our hits— and that was during our first hour with the rifles.

The Venture II is available in nine chamberings, including 350 Legend, and is joined by the Compass II and Compass Utility rifles as T/C works to revamp its family of centerfire bolt guns and bring it more in line with what customers expect out of hunting rifles in that price range. The Compass II also features a new trigger, redesigned ergonomics, a threaded barrel, and a Weather Shield finish. The Compass Utility is a budget version, with the older Compass trigger installed and fewer bells and whistles, though it’s still a very competent rifle and extremely affordable.

The Compass II Compact is just what it sounds like: a shorter version of the Compass II with a 16.5-inch barrel and an overall length of 35.125 to 36 inches, compared to the 21.625-inch or 24-inch barrel on the regular Compass II. It comes with a significant buttpad extension to increase the LOP, allowing the small rifle to be shot comfortably by larger-framed hunters, as well as smaller-statured shooters without the extension.

The Compass II and Venture II will be available with Crimson Trace 3–9x40 scopes already mounted and boresighted. The Compass Utility will be offered with a T/C 3–9x40 scope. SRP: Venture II, $525; Compass II, $405; Compass II Compact, $405; Compass Utility, $359. Booth #13729. (tcarms.com)

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T H E F UN FACTO R :

RIFLES

Rifles chambered for .22 or .223 are a good entry point for new shooters

By David E. Petzal

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hooting for fun” takes in a lot of territory. In college, I shot rats for fun, so many that I majored in English and minored in Rodent. I know .50-caliber shooters who, in the spirit of a good time, blaze away at rocks in the desert that happen to be more than a mile away. There are folks with Class 03 licenses and gobs of money to spend on ammo who have fun machine-gunning junked cars. And there are my friends in West Virginia who enjoy themselves in the evenings by shining a light on a white board and plinking the moths the light attracts with a .22.

Shooting a bolt-action rimfire at a range is an inexpensive way to safely acquire fire control and target acquisition skills.

Experienced shooters know all about shooting for fun, and they do it once in a while, although not enough to cost them their ATA averages or their High Master rankings in NRA rifle shoots. Inexperienced shooters are the market here; people who want to do something with their family that’s not highly athletic or jaw-grindingly competitive. To such folks, the most important commodity you have to sell is not firearms and ammunition—it’s information.

It’s much more difficult to be a new shooter today than it was years ago. Firearms have gone high-tech, and what used to be a jungle of strange words and phrases is now practically impenetrable. The dealer who takes the time to explain things is blessed, and will see their profits rise

accordingly.

The other problem faced by new shooters is the internet. Once upon a time, gun dealers complained bitterly about the nonsense new shooters received from people who were allegedly experts. Now, for bad advice, you go online. There’s some good advice there, too, but how is a beginner to tell the difference?

If I were counseling an inexperienced shooter, I’d make one crucial point before I ever started talking about which gun to buy: Shooting is one of the safest sports around because it stresses safety more than any other sport.

However, in order to be a safe shooter, there are a few pieces of equipment you must have.

First, shooting glasses. These days, a competently run range will not let you on the firing line

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unless you have both ear and eye protection suitable to the shooting sports. Plain sunglasses will not do; when your head is down aiming, you’ll be looking over them, not through them, and they’ll be useless. Shooting glasses ride high on your nose so you see through them. Too, good shooting glasses have high-impact lenses—sunglasses do not. And shooting glasses come in colors (or clear) that help the shooter better see sights, beads, and targets.

Sunglasses come in weird tints that make it difficult to aim.

For shooters who require prescription lenses, the standout is Decot (Booth #15633). The company has been around forever, is staffed by experts, and will unfailingly provide its customers with the right thing. You can stock non-prescription Decots, or you can direct your customers to them for made-to-order lenses.

Second, hearing protection.

Guns—all guns, even .22s—produce about 140dB of sound. Some rifles turn out 175dB. The only other source of noise in this league is a jet engine. The rule is simple: The person who shoots without hearing protection, or with inadequate hearing protection, will go deaf.

Earplugs, of any type, are not useless, but they’re next to useless. That leaves headphones.

There’s no shortage of brands, but the best seem to be by Peltor (Booth #1625). It makes a wide variety, but what you want to sell are the models that block the most noise and which your customer can also afford. And whatever they buy, it must be electronic and allow the wearer to hear voices. An inexperienced shooter who can’t hear range commands or the instructions of a coach or warnings is good to no one. If someone balks at the price of Peltors, remind them that hearing aids that actually work cost $6,000-plus.

Third, your new shooter needs some way to lock up the gun. A customer may hesitate over this, what with all the money you’ve already helped them spend, but remind them that, unlike tennis rackets, golf clubs, and soccer balls, there’s no excuse for an unsecured recreational firearm.

Sticking them in the broom closet can invite the kind of sorrow that lasts a lifetime. You also should point out that many states have safe-storage laws.

You can sell a hard gun case that takes padlocks, and that will do fine. If the customer has a

Though not expressly designed for plinking, the Ruger PC Carbine in 9mm is a sweet shooter with little recoil.

Families looking for an activity that’s not highly athletic or jaw-grindingly competitive will enjoy casual shooting.

closet with a solid door (with a deadbolt lock) that can’t be kicked in, that will also work. Good gun safes cost a bundle for the most part, and if you can sell one, good for you. But, really, your job is to make sure the customer understands that firearms are not to be left lying around. (Directing customers to NSSF’s Project ChildSafe site, ProjectChildSafe. org, both underscores this idea and provides a wealth of resources for getting it right.)

Which brings us to guns. For informal shooting, the best gun is the .22 rimfire rifle. Cheap ammo, no recoil, and comparatively little noise are the reasons.

My preferences here are a boltaction, pump, or lever-action, but autoloaders are very popular.

Explain how each action works, and let the customer choose what works best for them.

Regardless of the action type, the rifle must have a good trigger.

Nothing keeps an inexperienced shooter from hitting like a rotten trigger, and lack of success early on means they will stop shooting and go play soccer instead.

If children or small women are in the mix, point out that small people need small rifles. A 4-foottall kid or a 5-foot-tall woman does not shoot well with a rifle that was designed for a man who is 5-foot-10.

If the customer wants a centerfire, and they tell you they trust the discipline and attention span of the shooters involved, there’s nothing as good as a modern sporting rifle (MSR) in .223. The excellent ergonomics, low recoil, and cheap ammo put it in a class by itself. However, not all MSR triggers are created equal. I’ve tried some that were unshootable.

The customer will need something to shoot at, and paper targets, by and large, are not fun; paper targets are for serious shooting. Some ranges will allow you to shoot clay targets with a rifle, but failing this, you want anything that rings, spins, falls down, “explodes,” or gives an obvious sign of being hit. Instant gratification is the key here. What your customer is interested in is the number of hits, not the score.

Dealers who can sell to shooters

looking for fun are the dealers who can put themselves in the shoes of new shooters. Men try to pretend they know more than they do. Women worry about appearing ignorant. All of them worry they’ll spend too much or buy stuff they don’t need.

Jargon is your enemy. Jargon costs you sales. If you point out that the frugal way to buy .22 ammo is by the brick, you’re giving good advice—but that doesn’t change the fact that your customer new to shooting has no idea what a brick of ammo is.

What you say is, “All rifles shoot better with one particular brand of .22. You have to try half a dozen until you find what that brand is. There are 50 rounds of .22 in a box of ammo, and when you find out what your rifle likes best, come back and we’ll sell you a brick. A brick is a carton of 10 boxes, so 500 rounds, and it’s cheaper than buying by the box.

Also, it lasts a lot longer.”

Remember, always, what it was like before gun jargon was second nature to you.

Empathy is a profit source.

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A wide variery of rifle ammunition for hunting, personal defense, and practice followed SIG’s handgun loads. Both lines continue to grow fast.

SIG the

Story A 19th-century wagon-builder has evolved into an industrial behemoth

By Wayne Van Zwoll

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ot all DA pistol triggers stroke like jack handles. But enough do to frustrate any shooter in search of accuracy. But the fire controls on my SIG Sauer P220 and P226 respond nimbly to fingers that once sentenced me to a nearfailing grade in high-school typing.

People with normal dexterity also hail SIG pistols for those blessings. Though the manufacturer may be best known for its handguns, over the past few years SIG has become an industrial behemoth by adding its inscrutable moniker to rifles, pneumatic guns, ammunition, optics, and suppressors.

Halberds to Handguns

This riot of new products has precedent. In 1853, Friedrich im Hoff, Heinrich Moser, and Conrad Neher started building wagons near the Rhine Falls in Switzerland. Rail cars soon joined the product line. In its seventh year, Schweizerische IndustrieGesellschaft applied itself to designing an infantry rifle. Four years later—perhaps on condition it adopt a merciful acronym—the Swiss Army awarded it a contract for 30,000 Prelaz-Burnand rifles.

While SIG was retooling and changing its letterhead, Germany’s gun-making firm of J.P. Sauer & Sohn was marking its centennial in a boulder-strewn valley mined since the fifth century B.C. The Celtic “sol” became, in records from 1318, “Suhl.” Its iron fueled a metal industry. By 1503, the town southwest of the Thuringian Forest was an arms-making hub.

Armorers forged swords and halberds, crossbows and helmets, then firearms. A century later, Suhl shops were delivering barrels to Nuremberg.

The start of the Thirty Years War in 1618 helped Suhl prosper.

Local gunsmiths included members of Nuremberg’s Sauer family.

Businesses multiplied. Then, on May 1, 1753, a lethal fire leveled the shops of 82 gunsmiths and 60 stockers, charring nine of 10 barrel works. It consumed documents that might have confirmed J.P. Sauer’s debut gun-making year (1751 is now given). In cooling ash, the shops of Anschutz, Bossele, and Spangenberg, along with Lorenz Sauer (1702–1779), petitioned for “a second chimney” in Suhl.

The Seven Years War, ignited in 1756, brought Suhl new orders for small arms, but also looting by both sides. The industrial age followed, with the benefits and challenges of mass production. In 1849, a consortium of gun makers, including Sauer, supplied rifles and pistols for Germany’s fleet. The enterprise Johann Paul Sauer & Sohn got its start January 1, 1873.

In 1880, the family shifted its focus from martial to sporting arms. A year later it had a medal-winning side-by-side rifle. Next came a drilling, then shotguns. The new century found J.P. Sauer & Sohn at

work on self-loading pistols.

Upstaged by Browning 7.65mm and 6.35mm autos, the Roth-Sauer of 1903 sired Sauer’s superior Models 1913 (7.65) and 1919 (6.35). Wartime production of the 1913 pistol and Mauser’s 1898 rifle kept the J.P. Sauer shop chugging.

Postwar designs included the vest-pocket 1920 WTM pistol, then more autoloaders, .22 to 9mm. The Third Reich pushed Sauer to hike output. In the 1941– 42 Africa campaign, Stuka pilots were issued Sauer M30 “survival guns.” While U.S. pilots packed utilitarian .22/.410 over/unders, the German arm, a 12-bore/ 9.3x74R drilling, was as lovely as its sporting counterpart. The Suhl plant also produced 36/38/H selfloading pistols and MP 44 submachine guns.

U.S. troops took Suhl on April 3, 1945. Two weeks later, arsonists destroyed J.P. Sauer’s factory and archives. By July 3, the Soviet Army controlled the city. Officers made off with a thousand hunting rifles, even as their units dismantled a third of Sauer’s factory.

SIG and Sauer pooled resources

after SIG announced the P210 pistol (service designation: M49). In the early 1960s a Model 58 struggled to emerge from prototype stage. J.P. Sauer & Sohn’s Eckernforde (West Germany) plant had the capacity to build two fresh SIG handguns: a military P220 and the P230 police version.

By 1976, Sauerstrasse SIG Holding AG had ponied up almost all the necessary capital, and pistols were a year into production.

Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, gave SIG its foothold in North America. There, as SIGARMS, it began importing pistols in 1985.

Two years later, it moved to nearby Herndon, where it introduced the P225, then the P226 and P228 (all 9mms).

In 1990, the firm secured property and then broke ground on a factory at Exeter, New Hampshire.

Two years later, it was manufacturing handguns there and had announced the P229 in .40 S&W. By 1998, SIGARMS was producing a shotgun for B. Rizzini of Italy.

The next year it added the Blaser R93 rifle to marketing efforts it had given Hammerli target rifles and

pistols since the 1970s.

In October 2007, SIGARMS changed its name to SIG Sauer, subsequently investing $18 million in research, development, and production at its Exeter plant. Now company headquarters, it is paired with a 140-acre firearms training facility (SIG Sauer Academy). The New Hampshire complex is the largest of eight SIG Sauer operations that employ 1,700 people worldwide.

Something in the Air

Long after I pestered starlings with a five-dollar Daisy, I learned Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery had a more potent airgun. SIG’s autoloading ASP (Advanced Sport Pellet) rifle mirrors neither. Profiled after AR-15s, the MPX Carbine airgun has an 8-inch barrel, and the MCX Rifle airgun has an 18-inch barrel. Both come in black and Flat Dark Earth finish and are nicely detailed.

The MCX Rifle weighs just over the 7½ pounds listed for an AR-15 in .223. The two-stage trigger pull

One of SIG’s best-selling models, the full-size P226, is currently available in nine different versions and four popular calibers. Here we see it in .40 S&W, the author’s favorite.

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is lengthy, but trips in a narrow range on either side of 8 pounds.

The cocking mechanism and magazine release function as on an AR-15 (not so, of course, the port).

A “rotary drive” polymer magazine runs like a bicycle chain, each of 30 links clinching a pellet. To help align pellets, SIG supplies a useful seating rod. From a rest with a 1–4X SIG-branded scope, my fiveshot groups hovered around an inch at 33 feet. Most accurate pellets: SIG’s skirted lead-free and pointed copper-coated lead.

The CO2 cartridges powering the MCX yield top speeds of around 750 fps at temperatures above 70º F. CO2 cools as it expands from liquid to gas, so rattle-battle shooting cools gun parts.

SIG warns not to pull cylinders from the rifle’s butt until they’re depleted. To learn why, I did—and got hosed with CO2 as pressurized refrigerant. Each 90-gram cylinder should give you 200 shots.

SIG has ASP pistols, too. The 226 and 250 look and feel like their centerfire forebears and feature operating slides. At 41 ounces, the 226 comes within an ounce of matching a 9mm. Even trigger pulls are close: 8½ pounds DA, 4¼ pounds SA, against specs of 10 and 4½ pounds for the firearm. The safety is also a de-cocker. Besides a black finish, the 250 comes in OD, the 226 in FDE. Unlike MCX rifles offered in .177 and .22, pistols are bored only for .177 pellets.

My 226 holds a 16-shot polymer

magazine, an 8-pellet cylinder at each end. A 12-gram gas cylinder in the grip powers about 60 shots at a listed 510 fps. Off bags, an ASP pistol hit 1-inch sticky dots routinely for me at 33 feet.

When Red Ryders rode herd on starlings, no youngster could have imagined an AR-15 or a P226, nor envisioned airguns with the feel, sights, and trigger pulls of real guns. SIG ASPs put those qualities in your hand and put the fun back into shooting. There’s also an ASP break-barrel air rifle and singlestroke air pistol. Tack a bull’s-eye or toss a soda can anywhere, and send hundreds of accurate shots for the cost of a handful of .223s or 9mms.

You can also harass vermin where rimfires would speak too loudly or reach too far. No blast or recoil. No muffs or flinch. What’s not to like?

Loads of Loads

SIG began marketing its own centerfire cartridges in 2014. They’ve functioned seamlessly in my handguns and drilled groups as tight as the pistols permit. The signature expanding bullet, SIG’s jacketed V-Crown, has a generous skived nose cavity. A toothed cannelure gloms onto the lead core like a pit bull. Loaded to crime-stopping velocities in nickeled cases, V-Crown cartridges make up a roster of 19, from .380 to 10mm, including .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, and .45 Colt. Five loads in 9mm Luger include a 115-grain 365

load for short-barreled pistols. Its low-flash powders and mild recoil give you an edge on follow-up shots while wringing real power from concealable guns carried daily. Battle-worthy M17 9mm ammo hurls 124-grain bullets at 1200 fps for maximum thump.

Recently, I’ve used SIG Elite Range pistol cartridges with FMJ bullets. No bottom-shelf plinking fodder, this!

“Accuracy from any firearm follows practice,” says Brad Criner, SIG’s senior brand manager. “We put the same care into SIG’s FMJ loads as we do V-Crown JHPs. You can count on glitch-free function, even the same point of impact as defense loads.”

The FMJs cost less, so shooters can more easily follow SIG’s dictum: “Train like you carry.”

Ballistics charts show Elite Range ammunition—13 pistol and two rifle loads—match their counterparts in flight. The handgun series runs from .380 to 10mm and .45 Auto, with 365 and M17 offerings in the 9mm suite. SIG also lists a 147-grain 9mm Elite Match load at 880 fps.

Rifle ammunition has followed handgun, early on with the Elite Match. Now that series has seven loads, .223 to .300 Win. Mag., including the subsonic .300 Blackout. Its sleek 220-grain OTM bullets leave at 1000 fps, with 489 foot-pounds of energy.

Quicker off .300 BLK blocks: a 125-grain OTM. SIG sells two

Elite Hunting lines: Copper Game and Tipped Varmint & Predator.

Lead-free HT bullets distinguish Copper ammo, which, like the Elite Match cadre, includes the wildly popular 6.5 Creedmoor.

Four Tipped V&P entries (.223, .22/250, and .243, plus a 205-grain subsonic .300 BLK offering) were joined late in 2019 by eight Elite Hunter Tipped loads, .243 to .300 Win. Mag.—notably a 100-grain 6mm Creedmoor, 130-grain .260 Rem., and 140-grain .270. Their jacketed spitzer bullets have yellow polymer noses. Designed for flat flight and lethal effect on North America’s popular big game, they exit at chart-topping speeds.

The Glass

“Got it.” The range, she meant.

Behind me, Cristina had endured the cactus gauntlet I’d threaded on my belly. The pronghorns had stopped. The buck’s chest was a shadow behind grass-tops when my bullet skimmed them. He folded.

“You hit at the dot because we had programmed Cristina’s cell phone to talk to that BDX scope,” said Joe Fruechtel. My eyes must have glazed over. “You’ll catch on.” Silent, lest I ask a stupid question, I listened.

“SIG’s BDX app, Android or iOS, lets you pair your phone with a BDX Kilo laser rangefinder. You can then send your ballistic data to the Kilo. Next, you bond the Kilo with your BDX scope. A blue

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SIG Electro-Optics include riflescopes, red-dot sights, binoculars, spotting scopes, and laser rangefinders. But SIG has also branched out into airguns, as well as smartphone apps to help shooters establish holdover.

OLED [organic light-emitting diode] tells you the scope accepts.

Now it’s slave to the Kilo. Range any target, and a red dot appears on your reticle. The bullet lands where you put the dot.”

Sheer wizardry. But what about wind? I thought I had him there.

Not so.

“If you get a read on wind, say from a Kestrel, just plug it into the app. The Kilo tells your scope, and a dot beside the vertical wire lights up to allow for drift. Dots at ends of the horizontal wire are Level Plex indicators. You can switch them off or adjust sensitivity.” A BDX Kilo rangefinder, he said, bonds to just one scope at a time, but a scope can bond to multiple Kilos. BDX scope fields have 78 vertical and 18 horizontal hold points, all OLEDs. Such magic comes in SIG scopes of ordinary profile. At this writing, all BDXs—3.5–10x42, 4.5–14x44, 4.5–14x50, and 6.5–20x52—have 30mm tubes and digital focal plane reticles that “subtend with zoom.”

No need or time for a rangefinder assist? The reticle appears as it would in an ordinary scope. And because there’s no laser inside a BDX scope, it’s legal for hunting in all 50 states.

SIG is already planning to field BDX scopes with six-times magnification. The Kilo rangefinder family got an overhaul in 2019.

There are now five BDX models, magnification in 6X, 7X, and 10X. They read reflective targets from

1,600 to 5,000 yards, animals from 750 to 1,500. Models 2400 and 3000 support Applied Ballistics External programs in Kestrels, for hits at extended range. AP External has SIG ammunition in its suite of factory loads.

You needn’t explore Bluetooth voodoo to use SIG Electro-Optics.

The 1-inch Whiskey3 scope series, 2–7x32 to 4–12x50, is affordable and practical. Five Whiskey5 sights, 2–10x42 to 2.4–12x56 and 5–25x52, have 30mm tubes. Both Whiskey lines have reticles in the second (rear) focal plane. SIG tactical sights make up the Tango4 (1–4x24 to 6–24x50) and Tango6 series, all 30mm save the 5–30x56 with its 34mm tube. Tangos have first-plane reticles, with a secondplane option in the 1–6x24.

SIG offers illuminated reticles and a Hellfire fiber-optic dot.

LevelPlex in Whiskey5 and Tango6 sights can spare you a missed shot with a canted rifle. Bubble levels are damage-prone and pull your eye outside the scope, so SIG put LevelPlex inside. If the rifle is canted, an arrow on the reticle lights up on the low side, pointing up.

Sensitive to 1 degree, it vanishes when you correct. A custom-etched SBT (SIG Ballistic Turret) comes with every Tango and Whiskey scope. You specify the load or ballistics. An SBT dial enables you to “dial the distance” and hold center at any range.

All Electro-Optics riflescopes have the features that matter most:

fully multi-coated glass with abrasion-resistant coating on end lenses, resettable zeros, excellent balance of eye relief and field of view, and positive, repeatable clicks I’ve tested “shooting around the square.” The scopes aren’t cheap (Whiskey5s run from $1,080 to $2,160), but they offer solid value. Then there’s the SIG Infinite Guarantee, good for your lifetime and transferable.

And Let’s Not Forget...

Currently, SIG lists 30 pistols.

Sixteen P226s, with 12- and 15-round magazines, in .40, 9mm, and .357 SIG, have become flagships. The P229 has the same DA/ SA action, standard-capacity magazine, and integral rail, but on a mid-size frame. The Legion SAO 226 is now available as a compact pistol in the 229 series. Full-size P220 .45 pistols (also in 10mm) have a proven record; one endured 10,630 test firings fault-free. You can get the P220, P226, and P229 with alloy or stainless frames. I don’t see a P227 or P250 on current SIG rosters, but P238 .380 and 938 9mm Micro-Compacts are still there, in myriad finishes.

Ditto the full-size SP2022 polymer-frame pistol. The M11-A1 Compact and P225 Carry tuck neatly into concealed holsters.

SIG’s P320 is a modular, strikerfired 9mm that comes in various sizes. In M17 form, with a 4.7-

inch barrel, it is the U.S. Army’s official sidearm. Another strikerfired 9mm, the P365, puts 10+1 capacity and 9mm power into a lightweight, 3-inch carry gun just an inch wide. SIG also has a 1911.

It’s refreshingly clean. No front serrations, belly rail, or fishtail scalloping. What it does have is a 4¼-pound, icicle-crisp trigger pull and fine strap checkering fore and aft between checkered Rosewood grips. The grip-safety hump helps shooters with big palm hollows.

The adjustable sight has a square notch and sharp white dots.

Nowhere is SIG’s Swiss heritage more visible than in the P210 target pistol, which is nitron-coated stainless steel swaddled in nearfull-wrap checkered walnut grips.

This 5-inch 9mm SAO cradles as if born to be in your hand.

Rifles shouldered into SIG’s line late, but have evolved and multiplied quickly. The AR-inspired MCX series in .223, .300 BLK, and 7.62x39 takes many forms, with barrels as short as 5½ inches.

A gas-piston sub-gun in 9mm is more compact still, with a braked 3½-inch barrel. The new M400 Tread in .223, 5.56, and .223 Wylde features direct-impingement cycling and a mid-length gas system. SIG offers bigger ARs in its 716 line, bored to 6.5 Creedmoor and 7.62 NATO. Evidently, SIG hasn’t yet made bows and arrows. Then again, with a history of halberds, who knows?

Booth #12240. (sigsauer.com)

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F E AT U R E S

The author with a pair of big hogs taken in Texas with Winchester’s straight-walled 350 Legend cartridge.

Hog Heaven

Winchester’s 350 Legend is a hog hunter’s dream load By Brian McCombie

W

inchester Ammunition debuted the company’s new 350 Legend cartridge at the 2019 SHOT Show to much flash, pomp, and media coverage. It was hailed as an all-new cartridge, one usable in bolt-action and MSR-platform rifles. Maybe most important, as it’s a straight-walled cartridge, deer hunters in select states that restrict the use of centerfire cartridges now had a viable option to blackpowder and slug guns.

No doubt, deer and other medium-size game will fall to this new round. But what about one of my passions—hogs?

Absolutely. The 350 Legend is definitely a fine mid- to shorterrange hog-hunting cartridge, especially if you use the Super X 180-grain Power Point load.

I know this because I hunted hogs on a ranch near Eagle Pass, Texas, with the round last year. I took three wild pigs, and the other people in my hunting party

bagged 10 more. All of us used the 180-grain Super X load.

The first evening at the ranch, I doubled up, dropping two hogs at about 100 yards with a Winchester XPR rifle (Booth #13334) topped with a Leupold VX

Freedom scope (Booth #13023).

A third hog fell on my last day of hunting.

My partners took their hogs at ranges from 40 to 125 yards, all with single shots. Back at the lodge, a guide and I cut into one of the larger hogs we’d taken to retrieve the bullet.

That bullet first traveled through the hog’s thick shield (the tough, flexible cartilage material the animal develops over its chest and sides). It broke rib bones,

smashed through the boar’s lungs, took out ribs on the far side, and then veered up into the shoulder.

In all, I measured more than 12 inches of penetration. The bullet held together very well. It also expanded to double its original diameter and retained much of its original weight—158.6 grains.

According to Winchester’s data, the Super X rounds I used, fired from a 20-inch barrel, have the 180-grain Power Point bullet exiting the barrel at 2100 fps, with

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LEATHERMAN ADDS KNIVES TO THE LINE

Winchester’s 350 Legend is definitely a fine mid- to short-range hog-hunting cartridge, especially if you use the Super X 180-grain Power Point load.

1,762 foot-pounds of energy. At 100 yards, the bullet is traveling at 1762 fps, with 1,240 footpounds of energy; at 200 yards, the bullet is still clipping along at 1466 fps, with 859 foot-pounds of energy—which is certainly more than enough power to take down a hog at 200 yards.

The 350 Legend came about when Winchester staff examined a possible new round based on existing .223 Remington brass.

Hoping to make a straight-walled cartridge for those states that require straight-walled centerfire ammo for deer hunting, Winchester also set out to create a round more powerful than the .300 Blackout. The .223 brass was also a way to make a round that would be usable in MSR-platform rifles.

By cutting off the .223 brass at the shoulder, Winchester engineers saw that they had a roughly .35-caliber opening. Winchester eventually moved away from the .223 brass and created its own similar brass, adding various .35-caliber projectiles and different powder and primer loads.

Winchester claims the 350 Legend is the world’s fastest straight-walled cartridge and has more energy than the .30/30 Win., .300 Blackout, and .223 Rem. It also boasts approximately 20 percent less recoil than the .243 Win., as well as less recoil than the .450 Bushmaster.

Certainly, that last claim is correct. I’ve shot many .450 Bushmasters in bolt-actions and MSRs, and the 350 Legend has much less recoil.

In addition to the Super X option I used, Winchester offers four other 350 Legend rounds: White Box 145-grain FMJ Flat Nose, for practice and plinking; Deer Season XP 150grain Extreme Point, for hunting; Power Max Bonded 160-grain Bonded JHP, also for hunting; and Super Suppressed 265-grain Open Tip, for use with suppressed rifles.

During the past year, at least a half-dozen gunmakers have introduced new rifles chambered in the 350 Legend. Retailers should see more introductions in 2020. Among those new 350 Legend rifles are a handful of MSR-style options, one of which might fulfill a wild-hog hunter’s dream: MSR capacity and follow-upshot speed while delivering a 180-grain hogwhopper of a bullet. Count me in! Booth #13129. (winchester.com)

In 2019, Leatherman Tool Group announced the launch of the Leatherman Free Collection, the most extensive product launch in Leatherman’s 35-year history. The tools use cutting-edge technology that integrates magnets into the design, making it easier for users to open, handle, and close the tools, and eliminating the need for nail nicks. In addition, the internal locking system reduces the wear and tear on individual implements, which makes the Free tools more durable than their predecessors.

Now, Leatherman is expanding the concept with the new Free K Series of multipurpose knives. Designed for the folding-knife user who wants multipurpose functionality, the primary implement in this collection is a 3.35-inch 420 steel blade. Like the other tools in the Free line, the K series features epic haptics (technology that provides a distinct click to give auditory confirmation that the tool is open and ready for

use), proprietary magnetic closures with a premium aluminum handle, and eight additional tools located within the handle.

“There have long been conversations around creating Leatherman knives,” says Adam Lazenby, design engineer at Leatherman. “With that in mind, we made sure that the Free architecture would support knives. We wanted to create a knife architecture that would allow us to create many different variations.” SRP: $79.95, K2 and K2X; $89.95, K4 and K4X. Booth #14512. (leatherman.com)

Leatherman’s new Free K Series of folding multipurpose knives features a 420 steel blade. The handle holds eight additional tools.

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F E AT U R E S

Armor Express’ Lighthawk XT 3.0 vest is suited for tactical teams, or officers serving high-risk search warrants.

Protecting the Protectors

Armor Express keeps on the forefront of changes to body armor

By Robert F. Staeger

W

ith body armor, more used to be better. In an effort to safeguard our soldiers and law-enforcement officers, the trend was to layer them with more and more armor, resulting in a look that’s been described as a “tactical turtle.” Steve Mowbry, product line director of Armor Express, paints a picture of the results. “It was kind of like that kid in A Christmas Story who wears so many clothes that, when he falls down, he can’t get back up.”

Times have changed, and the science of protection has advanced.

“Now they want more of a modular thing,” says Mowbry. “They want not only to be lighter, thinner, and more mobile, but they want to be able to add on things like groin protectors, deltoid protectors, and throat-yoke systems.”

At Armor Express, streamlined is the new black.

One example of this is the company’s best-selling Lighthawk XT 3.0 vest. Its BALCS SPEAR cut gives the wearer’s arms more room to maneuver while still offering protection.

“We’re bringing a quick-release version of it to SHOT Show,” says Mowbry. The updated design, available in sizes from XS to 4XL,

has a quick-release cummerbund, making it easier to put on and take off on your own, rather than needing a partner to help you equip. “They can put the carrier on like a jacket. You can get dressed on your own and just clip in one side, and the rest of the carrier’s locked in.”

It’s also a big advantage in tactical medicine situations. “If there’s an injury or an officer goes down, the medic can remove the armor without cutting the armor loose,” says Mowbry, “and then still be able to put the armor back on so they can get them ‘off the X,’ as they call it—get them out of harm’s way while still utilizing their armor.”

Another important addition is the 3-D foam vent system, a stiff,

foam-encapsulated pad on the interior of the carrier. “When you’re wearing it, you get a little more air flow than with the standard material that’s right on top of you,” says Mowbry.

The Lighthawk 3.0 can be fitted with accessories for extra protection, like structured deltoid protectors, a yoke/collar assembly to protect the throat, and laser-cut hardarmor shoulder plates that keep rounds from passing through the shoulder into the chest cavity. Also, the vests can incorporate hardarmor plating. “It’s top-loading, so it’s much easier for the officers to don and doff while they’re in their kit,” says Mowbry.

Armor Express also offers overt carriers—protection to be worn as

exterior wear, rather than under a jacket. Its best-selling model is the Traverse, which is available both in a Tactical style (decked with MOLLE for accessory attachments) and Dress, meant to mimic a uniform dress shirt.

One of the most important side benefits of the Traverse is the ability to attach items like a flashlight or cuffs, which would otherwise hang from an officer’s duty belt. “Being an officer, it stinks getting in or out of a vehicle,” says Mowbry. “Your knees and your lower back just take a beating because all that weight is on your duty belt.” Carrying the weight at a higher point can help prevent knee and lumbar injuries.

“All of a sudden your shoulders are taking more of that pressure off.”

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MAGPUL ’ S NEW BIPOD

The AMP-1 TP (left) mutes the energy transfer of a bullet. The AMH-2 (right) guards against blunt force.

The Dress version is appealing to a lot of the leadership, since it resembles a Class A uniform shirt and can be thrown on like a jacket. “So many times, detective units run out of the office without their armor on. And we’ve seen way too many officers end up getting injured or die on the job because they just weren’t wearing it,” says Mowbry. “We need to be wearing our armor.

We all know better.” The Traverse Dress makes putting it on easy and quick.

A new model of the Traverse, being introduced at SHOT Show, has incorporated some MOLLE into the Dress design, offering the benefits of both.

The company has clients in a lot of different areas: military, federal law enforcement, domestic law enforcement, fire, corrections, and more.

Its different products are designed for different missions and requirements.

Mowbry ran through some of the options. “The Traverse is for anybody from line officers, patrol officers, detective bureaus, interdiction teams, and that kind of thing,” he says. “The Lighthawk 3.0 is pretty much an attack vest. It’s an entry vest for a tactical team, or any type of team that may be doing high-risk search warrants.

“When it comes to our spike and stab armor, we also have different systems,” says Mowbry. The Taurus 1, 2, and 3 are all spike armor. “Those are mainly for corrections officers or transport officers,

where the threat is going to be knives and not firearms.”

The Gemini, on the other hand, handles both spike and ballistic threats. And there’s a surprising type of officer that gets this protection more than any other, says Mowbry: K-9 units.

“It’s often a dog vest, because they’re worried about the canines getting stabbed and/or shot when they’re in pursuit.” Other than that, it’s usually for transport and corrections officers on the exterior of the facility. Inside, firearms are restricted, but on the perimeter, they need to be ready for either threat.

Head protection at Armor Express is also missionspecific. Mowbry doesn’t mince words. “We offer the best helmet in the world,” he says, crediting the company’s exclusive partner, the German helmet maker Busch Protective. “It’s a one size fits most, and there are three different models.”

First up is the AMP-1E, a normal-level 3A ballistic helmet. “What that means is that it’ll stop the .357 SIG, and it will stop 3A threats, up to a .44 Magnum.”

For lighter duty, there’s the AMH-2, which is largely for blunt-force protection. “It’s great for search and rescue,” says Mowbry. Like the ballistic helmets, it has a one-sizefits-most interior strap with a dial system. “Where that comes into play really is that an administrator doesn’t have to worry about sizing everyone’s head.” You can dial it up

and put a wool hat under it, or dial it down for smaller heads.

Finally, there’s what Mowbry calls “the cream of the crop”: the AMP-1 TP. It has a more rigorous European VPAM certification. The American NIJ certification basically tests for penetration, but VPAM measures energy transfer from the outside of the shell to the head. In addition, all the bolts on the AMP-1 TP are ballistic metal, so if they’re hit by a bullet, they don’t themselves become part of a secondary fragmentation.

The helmets accept a variety of accessories too, including different types of face shields: fragmentation, blunt force, riot, and ballistic. Cameras and tactical lights can also attach to the helmets’ built-in rails.

The helmets are so impressive, in fact, that Armor Express won a blanket purchase agreement from the Drug Enforcement Administration. (In addition to the DEA, the contract covers the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and ATF.) “It’s really picking up steam,” says Glenn Wiener, Armor Express’s chief strategy officer. “A lot of people are focused not just on stopping the round, but ensuring head protection and the best protection against blunt force trauma.”

It’s a welcome recognition of the company’s efforts.

“Our strategy really is about ongoing innovation,” says Wiener. “A lot of companies in our industry will showcase all of the latest innovations at once, at a big show like SHOT. Our strategy has been to drive innovation in ballistics, carriers, hard armor, and accessories, all through the year.” Booth #15931.

Question: What would happen if you combined the existing ergonomics and functionality of a Magpul bipod with a hassle-free mounting system for the Uncle Mike’s Sling Swivel Stud? Answer: You get the Magpul Bipod-Sling Stud QD. “The Magpul Bipod-Sling Stud QD is the next offering in the Magpul bipod line,” says Scott Creed, Magpul’s director of marketing. “Able to mount on the Uncle Mike’s Sling Swivel Stud, which is common to nearly every sporting rifle made, the Magpul Bipod-Sling Stud QD is a strong, fully featured bipod available with direct sling-stud mounting.”

With its rapid-attach sling studmounting system, the Sling Stud QD bipod takes the effort out of aligning and tightening that comes with traditional sling stud-mount bipods. The stainlesssteel mounting system self-locates and aligns perfectly every time, and an ergonomic thumbwheel allows for excellent grip to ensure easy tightening.

“In addition, two sizes of non-marring, high-durometer, rubber-mounting gaskets are provided to ensure optimized fit and load distribution on narrow sportercontour or wider target-style forends,” says Creed. “The ability to mount a sling with standard locking sling swivels on the forend is maintained with a lowprofile sling stud on the rear of the Sling Stud QD mount, which also provides for a quick detachment when it’s needed.”

Creed adds that the Sling Stud QD bipod brings shooters “the high performance associated with higher-priced bipods, but at a significantly more affordable price. Spring-tensioned, milspec, hard-anodized 6061-T6 aluminum and injection-molded, reinforced polymer legs stow neatly forward and snap down to lock into place with one hand.”

Leg extensions slide and lock securely with the push of a button on any of the seven locking detents extending from 6.6 inches to 10 inches. A soft rubber bipod locking knob cap is attached to the locking knob, giving users a steady, non-marring forward rest while the bipod is folded. In addition, its staggered soft rubber feet hold fast on a variety of shooting surfaces and are easily removed with a roll pin punch. Should users choose to change feet, the Sling Stud QD’s legs accept most Atlaspattern bipod replaceable feet. The streamlined housing and legs fit neatly under the barrel and are just under 2.5 inches deep and 3.3 inches wide when folded. Available in black and FDE. SRP: $129.95. Booth #10263. (magpul.com)

(armorexpress.com)

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F E AT U R E S

Bullet Construction

101

The more your customers know about hunting bullets, the more they’ll spend on them

By Michael R. Shea

C

aliber doesn’t matter—-at least not as much as most gun-counter philosophy sessions might lead a customer to believe. What matters most in the killing of big game is shot placement.

“Right after that comes bullet construction, which is of major importance,” says Field & Stream rifles editor David E. Petzal. “Not bullet weight, or caliber, or ballistic coefficient, but construction.”

So what exactly is bullet construction, and how do you easily explain it to shoppers deciding on their next box of hunting loads?

Spoiler alert: It’s not that complicated, but the more hunters and shooters know about bullets, the more they’ll spend on them.

How Bullets Are Made

The bonded Swift Scirocco features a lead core dropped into a copper-alloy jacket.

Bullet makers think of ballistics in three distinct categories: internal ballistics, or what happens from the time the primer is struck until the bullet reaches the muzzle of the rifle; external ballistics, or the flight of the bullet to the target; and terminal ballistics, or how the bullet performs when it hits meat.

For hunters, bad versus good terminal ballistics can be the difference between hit-and-notrecovered and dead-right-there.

Bullet construction is a major fac-

tor in terminal ballistics. Good internal and external ballistics equate to something all rifle shooters understand: accuracy. It’s also easy to determine. A rifle either groups a certain ammo well, or it doesn’t. Understanding terminal performance is much more squishy—literally and figuratively.

A well-made big-game bullet can penetrate heavy bone, expand and retain most of its weight, then scramble the vitals, cutting a wide wound channel, before exiting or stopping on the animal’s far-side hide. (Varmint bullets, on the other hand, are altogether different. They’re designed to rapidly fragment—dramatically break apart on impact—with thinskinned critters.) Modern hunting bullets for North American big

The Remington Core-Lokt is a classic example of the tried-andtrue cup-and-core (mechanically locked) jacket design.

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The Barnes TSX is a popular example of the monolithic concept. It is extruded from a single block of copper and designed to expand into four razor-sharp petals.

Monolithic bullets are made of a single alloy—in most cases, copper—without a core.

match-like accuracy to hunting loads and is said to expand well at all ranges. I’ve taken a black bear at 30 steps and whitetails at 350 yards with it. Both resulted in expansive wound channels and short blood trails.

game are constructed in one of three ways. All have their place.

Bonded

Cup-and-Core (Mechanically Locked Jackets)

In this standard bullet design, a lead core is wrapped in a cup, or jacket, usually made of a copper alloy, and mechanically locked together. The tip is traditionally soft; in other words, the lead core is exposed at the tip to aid in expansion on impact. Remington Core Lokts (Booth #14229) are a good example. The core is locked to the jacket with a bump of copper internally around the middle.

A more modern example is the Nosler Partition. “The rear core is barred from going forward and separating by a huge H-shaped partition,” says Jared Kutney, director of product engineering, rifle ammunition, at Federal Ammunition (Booth #14551).

“And the contour of the jacket helps to control expansion, so the bullet stays together but expands and transfers energy. It won’t punch through the animal without a significant hole.”

For vital shots on thin-skinned, medium-size game like deer and antelope, these bullets work very well, as bullet expansion is nearly instantaneous on impact. The mushroomed bullet then goes on to cut through the heart and lungs.

Hornady’s ELD-X bullets and Precision Hunter loads (Booth #13140) are good, modern, mechanically locked bullets. The polymer Heat Shield Tip, which resists deformation, brought

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Bonded bullets are tougher than traditional cup-and-cores. Here, a lead core is dropped into a copperalloy jacket. A bonding agent is added, and the bullet is passed through an oven. The lead core melts and bonds to the jacket. This lets bullet makers custom-taper the pre-made jackets for what’s called “controlled expansion,” in which the bullet is designed to open up at different speeds when shot through a test medium.

The Swift A-Frame (Booth #3001), which has the same cutaway look of the Nosler Partition (Booth #13951), is the classic example. The A-Frame is famous for weight retention figures ranging from 91 to 99 percent, depending on speed. That makes for a big hole. By design, the Partition retains 60 to 70 percent of its weight.

Plating is often lumped together with bonding, when discussing bullet construction, but the process is different. Lead cores are soaked in an electrochemical bath, which

creates a uniform copper-alloy jacket without taper. Examples are Federal’s popular Fusion line, Speer Impact, and Speer Gold Dot. For thick-skinned, heavyboned animals or less-than-ideal shots on deer and elk, these tough bonded bullets are hard to beat.

Federal’s 2017 release, the Edge TLR bullet, is probably the best example of a modern bonded bullet with an innovative ballistic tip. The hollow-core Slipstream tip enables expansion at very low velocities, meaning the bullet will still perform at longer range. This is possible because the hollow polymer tip fills with fluids from meat and hide on impact and peels back the jacket, starting the controlledexpansion process. Federal says it works at high and low velocities, at all ranges. It has documented killing expansion at 900 yards. (For 2020, the Edge TLR is being replaced by the Terminal Ascent.

But the cartridge will still feature the Slipstream tip.)

the first place is of utmost importance. Good accuracy is the first criteria when matching bullet to rifle, but given the build quality of modern hunting ammunition, such accuracy is now far easier to achieve. Finally, remind the customer that rifles always shoot one type of ammo better than another.

In order to find the best load for their rifle, they need to try several different types and brands, and then go with the ammo that delivers the best accuracy.

Monolithics

Monolithics, or mono-metal bullets, are made of a single alloy, usually copper, without a core. They are similar to the heavy solids of dangerous-game hunting, but with a key difference. Most of these bullets are skived or marked in the manufacturing process with a cross-like shape on the nose so they’ll effectively expand on impact. (Many U.S. hunting regulations require expanding bullets on big game.) They’re widely used in muzzleloaders and areas that have outlawed lead ammunition.

The Barnes TSX (Booth #14229) is a popular example. It’s extruded from a single block of copper and designed to expand into four razor-sharp petals. I’ve pulled more than one off the far-side hides of whitetails, and each had perfectly expanded. The updated TTSX has a polymer tip for a higher ballistic coefficient.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, putting the bullet in the vitals in

Federal’s Berger Hybrid Hunter, this one in .224 Valkyrie, blends the profile of a low-drag match target bullet with a traditional hunting projectile designed for reliable terminal performance on medium game.

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F E AT U R E S

All In A

Federal has listened to customer requests for component bullets and is now offering those products for handloaders.

Federal Ammunition adds bullet components to its reloading lines lthough Federal Ammunition has for years provided handloaders with high-quality brass, primers, and wads, until recently it did not offer handloaders any of its proprietary bullets. The only way a hunter or shooter could get these bullets was to buy Federal factory-loaded ammo.

That has changed. Recently, the manufacturer jumped into the components market with both feet, and it now offers handloaders everything they need to reload.

“Being the largest ammunition company in the world has allowed Federal to deliver a wide range of benefits to the consumer, be it fulfilling military and law enforcement contracts or offering an unmatched variety to recreational

users of rimfire, shotshell, handgun, and rifle ammo,” says J.J. Reich, Federal’s senior communications manager. “That said, we have listened to the requests of our customers, and Federal is now delivering on a huge lineup of

Fusion customers can finally tailor a load specifically to their rifle.

This is an important development for customers who want to use Fusion projectiles in less-common cartridges.

component bullets that we never offered in the past.”

Reich cites the Fusion line as an example. “Our customers can finally tailor a Fusion load to make their rifle happy. This is an especially important development for those customers who want to use Fusion projectiles in the lesscommon cartridges for which Federal doesn’t provide factory ammunition.”

Federal’s decision to now offer a wide range of its centerfire rifle and handgun bullets for reloaders makes business sense, as it is a way to keep customers within the family. “For us, it rounds out our product offerings,” Reich says. “We have a huge selection of outstanding and accurate factory-loaded ammunition. But if you want to tailor a load to your specifications or shoot a cartridge we don’t offer in our catalog, you can now buy our projectiles and load it yourself.”

Reich notes that with the 2020 addition of the new Terminal Ascent component bullets, Federal is currently offering several bullet platforms (two hand-

gun and five rifle) to handloaders.

Following is an up-to-date list of the Federal bullet components available to handloaders. Retailers can realistically expect more bullet components to join the line in 2021 and beyond.

HANDGUN

Hydra-Shok

Introduced in 1989, Hydra-Shok remains one of the most popular choices for protecting home and family. That’s because the proven hollowpoint and iconic center post provide extremely consistent and effective expansion.

Syntech

With an exclusive TSJ polymer jacket that eliminates copper fouling and decreases heat and friction, American Eagle Syntech loads have redefined the rangeammunition category. The advanced range projectiles provide clean, accurate, consistent performance, as well as less splash-back on steel targets.

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RIFLE

Terminal Ascent

Terminal Ascent uses the exclusive Slipstream polymer tip to initiate expansion at long range. At close range, the bullet’s copper shank and bonded lead core retain weight for consistent, lethal penetration. Its long, sleek profile offers an extremely high ballistic coefficient, and the AccuChannel groove technology improves accuracy and minimizes drag.

Trophy Bonded Tip

The proven design of the Trophy Bonded Tip sets it apart from other big-game bullets, combining bonded construction, a bonecrushing solid copper shank, a boattail design, and a high-performance polymer tip that tightens groups at long range.

class. With a molecular-fused jacket and a pressure-formed core, Fusion transfers maximum energy on target and provides tag-filling accuracy.

inch versions, all in 50-count boxes. These bullet diameters and weights are what most handloaders are looking for to load the most popular hunting cartridges.

“The variety of diameters and

weights are different for each product line, yet all seven product lines carry the most popular calibers handloaders are looking for,” Reich says. Booth #14551. (federalpremium.com)

S P E C I F I C AT I O N S

Diameters & Weights

The seven different handgun and rifle product lines listed above are available in a full array of the most popular bullet diameters and weights. For example, Trophy Bonded Tip bullets are available in 130-grain .277-inch, 140-grain .277-inch, 140-grain .284-inch, 160-grain .284-inch, 165-grain .308-inch, and 180-grain .308The proven design of the Trophy Bonded Tip sets it apart from other big-game bullets.

Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid

The time-tested design of Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid bonds a lead core to a thick brass jacket to achieve damaging penetration on tough, dangerous game. Its flat nose minimizes deflection for a straight and deep wound cavity, and the grooved shank improves accuracy across an array of rifle platforms.

Trophy Bonded Bear Claw

Jack Carter designed it; Federal Premium perfected it. The worldfamous Trophy Bonded Bear Claw is a dead-reliable bullet from Africa to Alaska. Its bonded jacket and core provide controlled expansion and retain more than 95 percent of the bullet’s weight to penetrate deep.

Fusion

Fusion component bullets provide the largest expansion and highest weight retention in their

Hydra-Shok remains a popular choice for defending home and family.

If you want to shoot a cartridge that’s not in the Federal catalog, you can now buy Federal projectiles and load it yourself.

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F E AT U R E S

The Danner Thorofare boot is a great choice for those rugged hunts in rough country.

A Boot for the Backcountry Danner enters new territory By Phil Massaro

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ew York’s Adirondack Mountains are deceiving to the hunter; they can be as gentle as a lamb, especially when you see families with young children hiking along the numerous trails in the summer with no apparent difficulty.

However, the Adirondacks have another face altogether; step just a dozen yards off those trails, and you will encounter deadfalls, unseen holes, and jagged rocks. You’ll need to traverse around boulders as large as trucks, climb cliffs, and slog through swamps. And as if that weren’t enough, there is the ever-changing weather—especially in hunting season—where a banner blue-sky day can turn to sideways-blown freezing rain in the blink of an eye. Western hunters encounter similar conditions while they pursue mule deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope. By now you get the idea: This kind of mountain hunting calls for rugged footwear.

I’ve had a lot of different hunting boots over the years, and as I am a licensed land surveyor (in addition to being an outdoor writer), over the years I’ve put all sorts of footwear through their paces. I first experienced Danner boots just after I’d gotten out of college and gone Danner’s polyurethane Dynamic Response System footbed is tough enough to give consistent support for years.

to work for my father (now my business partner) full-time. I was sick and tired of boots that would fall apart in a few months or those that had soles that could be downright dangerous in the wet woods.

Those Danners were very similar to today’s Sierra model, and while that’s still a great boot, I was immediately intrigued when I heard about the newest offering from Danner—the Thorofare.

The Thorofare is a bit of a

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The 10-inch-tall Thorofare protects your ankles and keeps debris and water from getting into the boots.

departure from the more common Danner designs, such as the Pronghorn. It is Danner’s first take on a true backcountry mountain boot. Heavy packs, scree slopes, steep trails—a mountain hunt requires a good, stiff pair of boots, and the Thorofare is just that.

The 10-inch-tall boot protects your ankles and keeps debris and water from getting into your boots. The leather construction molds to your foot over time, yet is pliable enough to be comfortable right out of the box. The polyurethane footbed—Danner’s DRS (Dynamic Response System)—is tough enough to give consistent support for years, yet cushioned enough to be comfortable for the long miles on the trail.

The lower 2 inches of the boot are armored in Vibram rubber to prevent cuts from sharp rocks and sticks. A Vibram outsole with a lug pattern rugged enough to give good traction yet not so deep as to clog up with mud and clay gives good back support. It’s also quiet enough for stalking.

Danner uses a one-piece vamp to minimize stitching and to prevent water from leaking in, though with the Gore-Tex lining there isn’t much to worry about. The first five eyelets use the Danner ball-bearing lace system, so you get even tension over the top of the foot, and the hook-eyes used for the top five eyelets hold the laces very well.

Danner’s idea for comfort is to keep your heel in one place within the boot while allowing the toes to wiggle. I have narrow feet, and have found most Danner boots to run on the narrow side. When fitting a customer, help them get the width they need. I ordered the widest available (EE), as I usually wear heavy Smartwool socks no matter the temperature, and they fit as if custom-made for me. The padded area in the center of the tongue sits comfortably against the shin, and I had no fatigue at the back of the calf like I get from other boots.

Wearing them in the warm September weather of the early bear season in the Catskills and Adirondacks of Upstate New York, I had no issues with sweaty feet. I’ve hunted on several continents, and I can see this boot would be right at home in the Scottish Highlands and Alaska alike. It will also perform admirably up and down the Rockies, from Arizona to Alberta.

Given that this boot is a departure from Danner’s usual ouput, I asked Chris Currah, Danner’s hunt product manager, why Danner made a move to a “mountaineering” style of boot.

“We’ve made similar types of boots in the past, with styles like the Mountain Assault and Full Curl,” he says. “However, with the Thorofare, we wanted to create a boot for the backcountry hunter who intends to get into even more

rigorous terrain. What’s really unique about this boot is it’s made from top to bottom in our Portland, Oregon, factory. You won’t find many other boots like this made in the States. The Thorofare is a great example of our continued dedication to USA manufacturing.”

Currah also says Danner designers took inspiration from the company’s previous mountain hikers and hunting styles. “Our team took the Thorofare to the next level throughout the design process. We wanted to create a boot that can withstand the demands of sheep country or higher-angle hunting scenarios. It was also very important to us for this boot to be 100 percent cut, sewn, and constructed here in Portland, with the best materials we could get our hands on. We want this boot to be an exceptional experience from start to finish.”

Well, my feet agree. Their Thorofare experience has been nothing short of exceptional.

SRP: $500. Booth #10770.

The Thorofare’s leather construction molds to your foot over time, yet is pliable enough to be comfortable right out of the box.

(danner.com)

Danner’s ball-bearing eyelets offer even tension across the top of the foot with one smooth pull of the laces.

DAY 3, JANUARY 23, 2020 ■ SHOT BUSINESS DAILY ■ 53

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NEWS

Expanding Reach Norma designs new products for the U.S. market By Bill Miller

B

arbary sheep are right at home on the craggy, windswept slopes of arid West Texas. Also called aoudad, these transplants from North Africa quickly cover this terrain with sure-footed leaps and bounds. Some rams can grow to 300 pounds, so hunters must choose hard-hitting bullets undeterred by awkward shooting angles and buffeting winds across far ranges.

In this Southwest setting several months back, Norma Precision Ammunition hosted gun writers to test the Bondstrike Extreme in .300 Winchester Magnum.

Phil Massaro took a ram with a 270-yard shot from his Model 70.

He praised the Bondstrike for the quality of its 180-grain, blue polymer-tip, bonded-core boattail bullet. The bullet’s design helps it achieve strong weight retention and deep penetration.

“A good BC bullet like this is absolutely perfect for this coun-

try,” Massaro says. “If you take a look around, you can see the terrain consists of a lot of cuts and draws. Hunters also have to contend with wind, and the shots will be taken at long distances.”

The new ammo, introduced last year, comes in five calibers.

They’re all part of Norma’s new Strike family of cartridges meant to broaden the company’s U.S. reach. Bondstrike and its siblings, Ecostrike and Tipstrike, appear well on their way to enhancing Norma’s reputation for extreme

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Floating Knife Sport

Norma intends to focus more assets on the U.S. hunting and shooting market, and to include more-affordable offerings.

accuracy, quality components, and innovative bullet designs.

But those attributes come at a price. Today, a 20-round box of the popular .358 Norma Magnum can fetch $75—about $3.75 per cartridge. That may not bother those who can afford to hunt on other continents, but shooters on a tight budget might take a pass on Norma. The company aims to fix that by broadening the line to include moreaffordable offerings, such as a .223 and a 9mm round engineered for pistolcaliber carbines. The .223 Norma Tactical will be available in a box of 20 for less than $10.

“We will continue our brand stretch in 2020 and beyond,” says Paul Lemke, general manager of RUAG Ammotec-USA, the company that makes Norma products for the U.S. market. “If 2019 seemed full of innovation, that trend will be even more noticeable in 2020.”

Norma moved from Norway to neighboring Sweden in 1902, when its founders, the Enger brothers, set out to make cartridges for military rifles such as the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser.

Norma Ammunition, still based in Sweden, began shipping to the U.S. in the 1950s to fill contracts for the powerful wildcat cartridges sought by Roy Weatherby. The move put Norma’s premium products, including the classic .257 Weatherby Magnum, in the hands of U.S. shooters.

Norma has had several owners, the most recent being Swissbased RUAG Ammotec, which bought the company in 2002.

Several years later, it bought an ammunition plant in Tampa, Florida, and created RUAG Ammotec USA, which makes cartridges for Norma and other brands in the RUAG family.

Norma now makes about 30 million cartridges in more than 100 calibers each year for target shooting and hunting.

The Tampa plant handles most of the .223 and upcoming .300 Blackout products because those calibers are more prevalent in the U.S. than in Europe, says product manager Daniel Cox. “The hunting market has been our primary focus, but it’s stable and not growing,” he says. “The growth is in first-time selfdefense purchases. We’re also starting to see a segment of these self-defense customers shooting recreationally.”

He says the company also sees another potential growth area: women shooters. A recent study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation focused on women ages 18 to 65 who reported owning at least one firearm. More than a third of respondents said they were new gun owners. Also, most of them were between the ages of 18 and 34.

“To be fair, the portfolio for the U.S. market has been products carried over from what has been made in Europe,” Cox says.

“That’s going to change. We intend to flourish into a powerful U.S. market, so we’ve installed assets here. You’re going to see a whole new Norma without seeing any sacrifice in quality or attention to detail.” Booth #16727. (ruagammotec.usa.com)

BOOTH #1446

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news

Winchester Honors Marion McCollum

L

ast year, Winchester Ammunition presented the first Winchester Legend Award to six-time Olympic shooting medalist Kim Rhode. This year, Winchester honored outdoor marketing luminary Marion McCollum of Mack’s Prairie Wings, located in Stuttgart, Arkansas.

The vast grassland of Grand Prairie in the Mississippi Delta in eastern Arkansas has long been a waterfowl paradise. Stuttgart has been its epicenter, each year drawing diehard waterfowlers from across the country.

Winchester’s John Olin was a frequent visitor. Every season, he rented a floor of the city’s Riceland Hotel for a month to house himself and his hunting friends.

Marion’s father, M. T. McCollum, owner of McCollum’s Hardware, saw the annual migration of hunters and realized that catering to their unique needs and wants most likely would be a smart move.

In 1945, he essentially pioneered the waterfowling sales business by

Marion McCollum (center) of Mack’s Prairie Wings in Stuttgart, Arkansas, is the second recipient of the Winchester Legend Award.

cutting an archway into the side of the hardware store and adding a department just for duck and goose hunters. By 1967, the McCollums had outgrown the original hardware store and moved to a new, larger facility. They moved again in 2000 to the 42,000-square-foot retail space that Mack’s Prairie Wings now occupies.

Growing up in Stuttgart, Marion was introduced to waterfowling at a young age. He also spent many years guiding waterfowlers, so it should come as no surprise that he took his place alongside his father at Mack’s at the start of the 1960s.

In 1992, on a flight with his long-time vice president Chuck Lock, Marion decided it was time

to look at expanding in a new, but related, direction. He pulled an airline-mall catalog out of the seat pocket and started mapping out the strategy for what would be Mack’s mail-order business, which began operations in 1993. Today, Mack’s fulfills thousands of orders from its 95,000-square-foot shipping warehouse.

At 78, Marion has been “Mack’s” for 50 years, and has been a major donor to Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl.

He also served seven years on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and on the Board of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. He has been inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame. And, now, he is a Winchester Legend.

When presented with a Winchester original print as part of the honor, McCollum said, “I’ve shot Winchester shells my whole life. To me, red is far more than just the color of my blood.” Booth #13129. (winchester.com)

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otis presents sales award

Otis Technology has presented its 2019 Sales Rep of the Year to Kevin Wegner of Sokol Associates.

Wegner’s territory encompasses parts of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and he has nearly 25 years of experience in the industry, with involvement in all types of customer accounts.

“Kevin exemplifies what we are looking for in our field reps,” said Tom Knudtson, Otis’ director of commercial sales. “His dedication to the Otis portfolio of brands is evident in his consistent presentation of our products to his customer base, leveraging his product expertise, program knowledge, and overall enthusiasm. He fights for prime product placement both in stores and in advertising vehicles, which has resulted in significant growth in his territory. We appreciate all his efforts.”

In 2019, Otis Technology launched a new sales incentive program for its manufacturer reps. The sales representatives receive monthly and yearly goals set by Otis Technology, and these reps have an opportunity to win a cash award each month. They also can accumulate points throughout the year that contribute to their overall standings for the grand prize—a Yamaha Kodiak 450 EPS ATV valued at more than $7,000. Booth #14216. (otistec.com)

Kevin Wegner (left) of Sokol Associates was named Otis Technology’s 2019 Sales Rep of the Year.

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NEW PRODUCTS SRP: $799. Booth #11940. (ruger.com)

SIG Sauer

The Ruger-57, chambered for the speedy 5.7x28mm, has excellent ergonomics and comes with 10- or 20-round magazines.

The SIG Sauer Cross, which weighs only 6.5 pounds, was developed to meet the demands of both PRS shooters and backcountry hunters.

Ruger

The recently released 5.7x28mm pistol, the Ruger-57, was on hand at Range Day paired with Federal’s new American Eagle ammunition in the speedy little caliber, which until now has primarily had a home in the FN firearms for which it was designed.

The large but lightweight handgun benefits from an ergonomic grip that feels more like that of a 9mm handgun while housing a 20-round magazine for the longer 5.7mm cartridges. That slender steel mag is surrounded by a glassfilled nylon frame featuring an optimized texture. The trigger reach is also comparable to many 9mm handguns.

The 1911-style manual thumb safety is easy to engage and disengage while staying out of the way of your grip while shooting.

Controls also include a robust slide release and a reversible and easy-to-activate magazine release.

The slide is hardened billet steel with lightening cuts and enhanced front and rear cocking serrations. The rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation, and the frame includes a Picatinny accessory rail. The slide comes drilled and tapped for easy mounting of optics.

Instead of including a variety of mounting plates with the gun that you won’t use, Ruger has them available individually for many popular handgun optics.

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SIG Sauer has made a big leap into the hunting rifle market with the eye-catching Cross rifle, which the gunmaker is categorizing as a precision hunting boltaction rifle. Developed by hunters and elite long-range shooters, the Cross rifle was built to meet the demands of both PRS shooting and backcountry hunters—a tall order for any rifle.

The gun weighs in at just under 6.5 pounds, making it the lightest and most portable rifle in its class.

It includes a folding precision-style stock with adjustable LOP and comb height, and a one-piece receiver for increased accuracy.

The 6.5 Creedmoor version comes with an 18-inch barrel. The stock also folds, so the overall length for stowing is just 27 inches. The shorter 16-inch, barreled .308 Win. and .277 SIG Fury models have 16-inch barrels and collapse to just 25 inches overall.

Other features include a twostage match trigger, a free-floating M-Lok handguard, a onepiece aluminum receiver, SIG match-grade stainless barrels, a removable Picatinny top rail, and a threaded and tapered muzzle. It will be available with a black anodized finish or a camo First Lite Cipher Armorkote finish. All models are expected to be available summer 2020. SRP: $1,600, black; $1,800, camo. Booth #12532. (sigsauer.com)

Benelli

The words “Benelli” and “boltaction rifles” haven’t really gone together—until now. The shotgun giant released the Lupo at SHOT Show 2020. This is a bolt-action centerfire rifle that promises subMOA accuracy, superb ergonomics, patented adjustability, and unprecedented recoil reduction.

“Lupo” mean “wolf” in Italian, and the rifle is so named because it’s designed to be an apex predator. The Lupo will be initially offered in three chamberings—.30/06, .300 Win. Mag., and .270 Win. It features a chassis-style construction built from an alloy lower receiver and fitted with a synthetic stock and forend. The stock includes Benelli’s proprietary Progressive

The Hybrid X pack from ALPS Outdoorz combines features from day packs and meat haulers.

Comfort recoil-reducing system and a Combtech cheek pad. A Crio-treated, free-floating barrel and an adjustable trigger help it achieve that sub-MOA accuracy.

Other features include an easyto-load, double-stack box magazine, a two-position tang-mounted ambidextrous safety, Airtouch Grip surfaces, a threaded muzzle (5/8 x 24 thread), and a short bolt throw that allows for quick chambering and ejection for smooth follow-up shots. Capacity is 5+1 in all calibers. The .270 and .30/06 versions have a 22-inch barrel and weigh 7 pounds, while the .300 Win. Mag. version has a 24-inch barrel and weighs 7.1 pounds. SRP: $1,699. Booth #13656. (benelliusa.com)

ALPS OutdoorZ

The Hybrid X is a Westerninspired pack, offering all the conveniences of a day pack while providing the functionality of a meat hauler. The pack combines an internal-frame meat hauler with a detachable 2,750-cubicinch top-load pack that offers the ability to carry essentials and haul meat out after a successful hunt.

The pack easily attaches or detaches from a dual-aluminum frame via compression straps.

The frame also features a shelf and compressed wing-style pockets to accommodate small or large hauls.

A molded-foam suspension system and Lycra shoulder straps provide comfort and stability on the most unforgiving terrain, and a drop-down stock pocket can hold a rifle or a shotgun. Booth #3032. (alpsoutdoorz.com)

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1/22/20 4:21 PM