As our team walked around SHOT Show this year, we all looked for the “latest greatest” and, as always, there was quite an assortment. Then the inevitable question gets asked by someone who didn’t go to SHOT: “What was the neatest thing you saw this year?”
The biggest news this year seems to be the announcement, prior to SHOT and then on display at SHOT, from Federal Ammunition of their new cartridge, the .30 Super Carry. There is a plethora of ballistic information available about the .30SC so I won’t bore you with technical details. When it was announced, it was immediately loved (and hated) by many. The shooting industry veterans all seemed to embrace the outlook of “Let’s wait and see how it does.” Preliminary information indicates the .30SC penetrates deeper than .380ACP but not quite as deep as 9mm. It expands well, but at full expansion it still isn’t quite cutting the same channel as either .380ACP or 9mm. Because of its dimensions, you can get more capacity in the .30SC chambering than in either of the other two.
In parallel with the announcement of the .30SC cartridge, two gun companies announced weapons chambered for it. Smith & Wesson announced their Shield, in four variations, would be available for the new cartridge, and Nighthawk Custom Firearms announced they had a 1911-style pistol available for it. There was much rumor-mongering at SHOT about what other gun manufacturers would be releasing models chambered for it.
FN America made a follow on announcement on the adoption of their FN 509 MRD-LE handgun by the Los Angeles Police Department. As the use of red dot sights (RDS) grows in law enforcement, we’ll see more duty weapons delivered equipped with them. LAPD’s most recent academy recruits are being issued these weapons and training from day one with the RDS system. A surprise from FN America at SHOT Show was the release of their version of the High Power. The profile and design is classic, but the metallurgy, sights and magazine capacity are all modern. Available in three finishes, this High Power is going to find its way into a lot of gun safes.
During Media Range Day, we found Case Knives on display in the tent area and were pleasantly surprised to see they had several tactical designs on display. Long known for manufacturing traditional pocket knives—the kind you’d most likely find in your grandfather’s pocket—CASE released several single-blade, liner lock designs specifically for EDC tactical use. The knives were designed from the ground up for law enforcement and military use. Check out their Marilla and Kinzua design lines.
And last, but definitely not least, SureFire—long known for their high performance tactical lights—revealed their updated Turbo series of handheld and weapon lights. The technology evolves so fast that manufacturers are sometimes challenged to keep up, but SureFire did everything right with this line of lights.
