SHOT Show 2018 – Day 3

Day three started off with a bit of celebrity sighting. We ran into Lou Ferrigno in the Nikon booth. Just a few steps away, we saw the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke with his entourage. When your boss is over in Davos, what better place to hang out than SHOT? The day before Donald Trump Jr. was seen over at the Defiance booth. We spoke with one of our friends who was over at the booth, and Donald was talking about ballistics, twist rates and other technical topics. Who knows, maybe he’s seen some of our videos?

Frank Galli of Sniper’s Hide stopped by for a video segment where we discussed “What’s Hot” at SHOT. While we covered much of this in our daily SHOT Show updates, Frank’s own take on things is invaluable. This will be a video to watch.

What’s Hot at SHOT with Frank Galli

Brandon Hembry and Mollie Tobias from the Precision Rifle Series stopped by for a video interview and they shared a number of developments:

• They will be holding 43 bolt gun matches and 8 gas gun matches in 2018. The gas gun series got off to a slow start in 2017, but they have capitalized on lessons learned
• The PRS will take over responsibility for the prize tables relieving the match directors from a very time consuming task. This should result in more prize table consistency between matches
• The web site has been updated and will continue to be updated. A nice feature will be a map showing match locations as well as shooting locations. They also plan to provide information about locations for other shooting sports
• In 2017 they surveyed shooters regarding gear selection and had about 80% participation. Going forward, shooters will have to provide information about gear selection before they register for a match which will result in a complete survey of all shooters. This information will prove invaluable for shooters and vendors

We noticed a number of vendors adopting a direct to consumer business model. Most notable is Revic Optics who are offering a scope with a built in ballistic solver. Their scope is manufactured by the same plant that makes the Vortex HD Gen II scope. The result is a proven scope combined with a very innovative ballistic solver. All of this will be available for $2,700. No, that is the real price…it’s not a misprint.

Revic Optics scope

The folks from Vudoo Gunworks brought over their V-22 rim-fire rifle with an MTU contour barrel seated in a JAE chassis. With your eyes closed, you would swear that you are holding a centerfire match rifle just based on the weight and feel. This will be an invaluable training aid.

Thunderbeast showed us two innovative take down suppressors for 5.56 and .22 LR. The .22 LR suppressor will be the perfect complement for a training rifle. They also showed how the modular baffle will not leak gas internally leading to a situation where the baffle stack cannot be removed. Interestingly enough, an owner of a competitor (non-Thunderbeast) take down .22 LR suppressor remarked to us that they couldn’t remove their baffle stack due to gas leakage between the baffles “cementing” the baffle stack inside the suppressor. You have to admire Thunderbeast’s attention to detail. Their 5.56 takedown suppressor will also be offered as part of an integrally suppressed AR-15 upper. The gas system was tuned for suppressor use essentially eliminating gas blowback – a huge advantage for any shooter but left-handed shooters in particular.

We also stopped by American Rifle Company to take a look at their new Nucleus action. While billed as a budget model of the Mausingfield action, one would be hard pressed to detect any compromises. It’s a three lug controlled round feed action compatible with AICS magazines. It’s also one of the smoother actions we’ve felt. If you order an action by January 28^th, the price is $850 USD. After that, the price will go up to $1,000 USD. If you want a barreled action using a Nucleus, check out Patriot Valley Arms.

American Rifle Company Nucleus Action

David Tubb also showed off his Adaptive Target Rifle which is now the holder of the ELR World Record. This rifle is notable because you can shoot everything from the 6 XC to a .375 variant with the same rifle. David has also made modifications to the rifle which will make it even more relevant to our sport. While we have not seen his predecessor rifle the T2K show up at a precision rifle matches, we may see a better showing of his newest rifle.

Tomorrow is the final day at SHOT! We expect to wrap up our vendor visits and head home.

Editor: Ed Mobley (ed@65guys.com)

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