2018 SHOT Show Range Day Round Up
The GunLink team spent the day before the official opening of SHOT Show 2018 walking the grounds of the Boulder City Pistol and Rifle Club, where we were able to handle many new firearms from well known, big name manufacturers as well as new companies trying to get their name out there. While many companies had completely new weapons, it still seems that the firearm industry is leaning towards “high-end” modifications of existing platforms. Some of the offerings were fairly innovative, showcasing the fruits of lengthy R&D processes while others made small improvements on existing platforms to enhance the shooting experience.
Franklin Armory Reformation
Some of the biggest buzz at SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range surrounded Franklin Armory’s new Reformation line. Franklin kicked off the hubbub a couple of weeks ago with a mysterious press release boasting a new AR15 with an 11.5″ barrel and a Magpul SL stock. Big deal, right? We’ve all seen SBRs before. The catch was that Franklin Armory said that the Reformation was not a rifle (or a shotgun) and, despite the diminutive size coupled with a regular stock, is not subject to NFA regulations or taxes.
After picking our way through the crowd gathered around the Franklin shooting bay, we got some trigger time on the display model, outfitted with the short barrel, adjustable Magpul stock, Franklin’s BFSIII binary trigger, and magazines loaded with standard 5.56 ammo. Taken together, this blew many of the theories about how it escaped NFA purview, but the company reps wouldn’t give out any more details until tomorrow’s press conference at their booth on the show floor.
Mag-Fed Shotguns – Mossberg 590M and Remington 870DM
Mossberg’s domestic competitor, Remington, may have beaten Mossberg to the punch with last month’s announcement of the 870DM, an update to their popular pump-action shotgun to feed from a detachable magazine, but we think that Mossberg came out on top in the execution department with their new 590DM. Full disclosure, we are Mossberg fans out of the gate, preferring the 500 platform over the 870 in most regards.
Remington’s edge came with the announcement of a wider variety of models of the 870DM, including a Magpul equipped, camo thumb-hole, hardwood, tactical, and stubby non-NFA TAC-14 models that will accept Remington’s in-house built single-stack magazines in 3- and 6-round capacities. Continue reading
“Where To Shoot” App Puts Shooting Opportunities in the Palm of Your Hand
WhereToShoot.Org bills itself as “North America’s most comprehensive directory of shooting ranges,” allowing site visitors to find shooting ranges near their location whether they’re at home or traveling. The free WhereToShoot app for smartphones and tablets (available for both Android and iOS) makes finding a place to shoot even more convenient.
The app is as simple to use as you might imagine. Tell it where you want to shoot and it gives you a list of shooting ranges within your specified distance. Click on a range and it gives you all of the pertinent details including the range address, telephone number, website address, range type, facility details and more. If you’re more of a visual person and you prefer to see your closest ranges shown on a map rather than in a list, there’s an option for that as well.
Not sure where you are? Not a problem. Enough smartphone and tablet apps these days make use of the device’s location services that it no longer seems like the magical feature that it once might have but it really works great in the Where To Shoot app. The app can figure out where you are and base the shooting range search results on that. The app also seamlessly integrates with the Continue reading
Strip Gun Club Offers Unique Shooting Experience on Las Vegas Strip
During SHOT Show 2013 we had a chance to take a break from the show floor and visit Las Vegas’ newest firearms-oriented addition. Opening in early December 2012, the Strip Gun Club, which describes itself as the “first and only shooting range on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip,” offers a high-end shooting experience for visiting shooters and locals alike.
The double doors at the front of the building (featuring rifle- and pistol-themed handles) give way to a well appointed lobby/gift shop complete with hardwood floors, attractive furnishings and a gun safe protected by the door of a bank safe allegedly knocked over by John Dillinger himself. The place is decidedly a touch classier than many other shooting ranges I’ve been to.
The point of a shooting range, however, is not the decor – however nice it may be here. Strip Gun Club offers seven shooting lanes divided among Continue reading
