As I type this SHOT Show 2010 ended about a week ago. Running Tuesday through Friday (not including a weekend for the first time I can remember) and held at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, SHOT Show had a different flavor this year. Thanks to the economy and the challenges every company is facing, SHOT seemed to focus more on SALES and ORDERS than on information sharing or simple socializing with about 40,000 of your closest friends. Still in all, there were few things there worth reporting on and that’s my purpose. I'm going to go through them in alphabetical order by the manufacturer's name. Here we go...
Bates Uniform Footwear released a new boot, the C3 Product as it's referred to. Their published material says that with this boot they introduce Cross Channel Circulation Technology and the boots will be released in spring of this year. The acronym for that "new" technoloy is where they got the C3 name for the boots. The boots will be available in an 8" height with a zipper or a 6" non-zippered design, both constructed of leather and nylon. It will have a removable insole with both heel and arch support and a slip resistant rubber outsole.
Benchmade Knife Company is releasing a HK 14440SB-Combo kit that will include:
- a 14440SB Ally knife w/ stainless steel handles and glass breaker;
- a multitool with a pouch
- an LED light
Camelbak Products is releasing a line of gloves in four different designs. The Hest Grip Gloves are described as A form-fitting glove with maximum finger and hand dexterity. The Hi-Tech Impact II CT Glove is described as A high-performance glove with added paddingand excellent hand and finger dexterity. The Impact Elite Gloves have a similar description except with the inclusion of TPR padding. Finally, their fourth glove, the Vent Glove, is advertised as made for extremely hot or cold climates. I understand a VENT glove being good for hot climates, but I'll have to test a pair before I understand how VENT gloves are good in the cold.
CampCo, Inc./UZI is releasing two new products: a combo gift set that includes their Humvee Emergency Rescue Knife and an LED light, AND the UZI Ballistic Tritium Watch. From the published material I get this:
Humvee Emergency Rescue Knife and LED Combo Gift Set: This combo set features an ultrabright LED light, and a heavy duty tactical knife containing an emergency seatbelt cutter and glass breaker. The spear point serrated knife blade is coated with black anti-reflective coating, and features liner lock and a glass fiber anti-slip grip.
UZI Ballistic Tritium Watch: One of the toughest watches ever designed. Featuring a shock protected precision quartz movement and a shatter proof polycarbonate crystal. For superb night-time visibility, it employs the Swiss Tritium illumination system, using tritium gas vials on each number marker and hands. Water resistant, and has a rotating bezel. Takes a kicking.
From Civilian Lab, LLC comes the 'Rocket Bandoleer' Escape & Evasiton Sling Pack. Designed as a rapid deployment pack for confined spaces like vehicle crew cabs, the pack can be shifted back-to-front and vice-versa. It is hydration compatible and is equipped with patches of MOLLE / PALS webbing. There is a "fast access" pistol holster area as well as side pockets designed specifically for rifle magazines, bottled water, etc. I look forward to acquiring and testing one of these.
From Energizer Lighting Products comes three new flashlights:
- The Hard Case Tactical 2AA Swivel Head
- The Hard Case Tactical 1AA Helmet
- The Hard Case Tactical 1AA Lithium Light
From L-3 EOTech comes a new holoscope that caught my eye. Their Extreme-XPS uses a sideways mounted ("transversely mounted") single CR123 3V Lithium battery. Thanks to the design it takes up only 2.4" of rail space and can be quickly mounted / removed via a quick release throw lever. The buttons on the side are easy to access and manipulate. Another item I need to test.
From the Leatherman Tool Group comes the MUT. It is described as follows:
The first real multi-tool for the tactical and the practical, the MUT was developed by Leatherman's industry-leading engineer team with competitive shooters and operational snipers. Come check out the world's first true utility tool designed for AR-15 and M16 shooters.
Well known for their Desert Eagle pistols, Magnum Research, Inc. has introduced its first 1911 pistol offering. The full-szie (5" barrel) and semi-compact (4.33" barrel) Desert Eagle 1911 pistols are now in production. Both models feature enhanced beavertail safety, skeletonized trigger and hammer, crisp trigger, extended safety lever, beveled magazine well, tight tolerance frame and slide for enhanced accuracy. The models they had available for show and handling looked pretty good. We'll have to see if they perform as well as they look.
Revision Eyewear, Ltd.'s Wolfspider Tactical Goggle System streamlines size, weight and design for superior comfort and equpiment compatibility. It provides an uncompromised field-of-view, best-in-class ballistic protection and high-performance dual-material frame technology for comfortable, extended wearability. Plus, with distortion-free flawless optics and OcuMax coated lenses for fog-free vision, this is the goggle for tactical operators.
Sabre Defence Industries, LLC announced that they are producing their XR15 rifles with a piston driven system as an option to the gas tube traditional design. We'll have to check those out too.
SureFire LLC released a number of new lights but the one that caught my eye was the UB3T Invictus. Producing 400 lumens of max light, incorporating 11 different settings, and having a run time described as for hours, this one will be interesting to test out.
The final item (for this review) comes from Viridian Green Laser Sights - their C5 series. I was amazed at how small the whole light / laser unit was, running on a single battery, producing a bright green laser as well as 100 lumens of light. The unit really is pretty small and I'm looking forward to testing one out.
Those are my "quick SHOT" highlights. Next week we'll have more complete coverage.
Stay Safe!
