Already with their “boots on the ground” for a few days now, and with the first full day of SHOT ’24 behind then, the AA Crew in Vegas are really making the most of their time!
SHOT SHOW is all about new products of course, and “our guys over there” really try to dog out what is new, unique and exciting, but SHOT is also a time where the team can catch up with friends old and new from the industry… and also meet a few of those “celebs” that we follow so avidly online!
Boycie checked in late last night to tell us;
“After yesterday’s long walk round, today was a little more focused on the stands we wanted to revisit after the “Recce Day”, as we call it.
Our first meeting was with Charlie and Patryk from SPECNA ARMS who showcased some of the new and innovative products from their range; well be talking a lot more about the new EDGE SNIPER RIFLES and EDGE 3.0 AEG series that will feature a brushless motor and an Aether reinforced gearbox which looks exciting.
We then walked over to PTS who had some new OZ9 Glocks, an Ed Brown 1911 and Dead Air Silencers all of which are being released soon. After seeing the MAWL in 3D prototype form last year, this year there was a fully working production model for the Japanese market with the European and US variant coming soon. Also there was an interesting 240 B MID-CAP in “Fakelite” coming for the AK lovers; an interesting feature of that magazine is the empty mag/loaded mag indicator.
Moving round to the EVIKE stand there were a good number of products that caught our collective eyes. There was the Daniel Defense PDW, FAMAS and Noveske GBBRs, as well as the Staccato GBBP and the John Wick themed rifles and pistols. The guys at EVIKE took Steve into their testing booth for what was his first time with the Maxim GBBP and the Krytac LVOA AEG… needless to say Steve looked like he’d enjoyed himself! I spent a couple of hours taking our friend Tyler from RED DIRT FIREARMS in Florida around the airsoft stands to show him the value of airsoft as a cost effective training alternative; with the restrictions on certain ammunition in the US, more and more training is done with airsoft (6mm Training™) and being used for force on force training.
Dan leads us off with our favourite products of the day;
“I really liked the PPK20M which was on the MOS MANUFACTURING stand. I really love SMGs and the Vityaz designs. I thought the selector system was really cool as well as the option to remove the magwell and use standard AK mags. For my product of the day though I chose the SPECNA ARMS ETU known as the HAL 2.0 and the associated mobile app for Bluetooth programming of the ETU; hopefully a full product review to follow on this shortly!”
Lil Stu’s favourite product of DAY 2 was “the new EDGE 3.0 series from also from SPECNA ARMS, featuring (as mentioned earlier) an Ather reinforced gearbox, Aster II ETU and a brushless motor, which should be coming out at a really competitive price. l’ll be revisiting the SPECNA ARMS stand as I’ve a few extra questions that I’d like to ask the guys. For my second item, the Ed Brown 1911 on the PTS stand really had my little boat afloat!”
Steve chose for his stand out products, “firstly the PTS OZ9 and its trigger. The staging on the trigger was akin to that of a really good rifle. Whilst longer range accuracy may not be priority number one in an airsoft GBBP, having that option is always a positive, and it looks good for a very respectable price point. The outstanding product for me was the MANTIS X. The ability to use this on airsoft pistols, rifles and shotguns, plus real steel platforms is the one truly transferable accessory which can help you understand how you shoot and can improve your skills. The products in-depth analysis provided via the tablet-based app it really insightful.”
My highlights were the STACCATO PISTOLS on the EVIKE booth as I’ve used the double stack STI 2011 way back in IPSC days of the 1990’s; I’ve also followed the Staccato team shooter Michelle Viscusi since she was part of Team Glock
The best part of my day was being able to meet Michelle and have a short chat about IPSC shooting, and later on in the day I also had the chance to stand and chat with JJ Recaza and have a look at his new gun-belt made by HOWITZER PATRIOT MANUFACTURING which I hope to be able to review in the coming months too!
Sleep, rinse, repeat… onto DAY 3!
