Tag Archives: shot show

SHOT Hints the 5.7mm Trend may de here to Stay

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Building on a spate of recent new firearm releases chambered for the once-exotic FN 5.7 round, the aisles at SHOT Show this month seemed to reinforce that the caliber is here to stay.

While the 5.7×28 was originally just designed for FN’s PDW program– which led to the P90/PS90 and the Five-seveN series pistol– the now-NATO standardized cartridge caught a boost from Ruger in late 2019 with the Ruger 57 pistol followed soon after at SHOT Show 2020 by the prototype Diamondback DBX large-format pistol. Since then, KelTec has brought its P50 pistol to market, the CMMG Mk57 has appeared, and the DBX has started to appear on dealer’s shelves. In the meantime, FN updated the Five-seveN with new features and colors.

With Vista’s ammo brands (Federal, Speer, etc.) pumping out new 5.7 rounds as fast as they can to keep up with the trend, even more 5.7-chambered guns are inbound.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Is EAA closer to what the Hi-Power folks want?

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As I previously passed on, FN pulled a Kevorkian on the elderly Browning Hi-Power in 2017 then last week announced a “we have the technology” FN High Power (note the extended spelling) that kinda uses some BHP DNA but is a totally new gun with a lot of the same styling but none of the reverse compatibility and support.

As a counter, EAA is working with Girsan in Turkey to produce the P35– a play on the fact that the original BHP was the Grande Puissance 35 when introduced just prior to WWII. Taking the MK II/MK III model of the Hi-Power as a starting point, they met with success last year with EAA telling me at SHOT last week that they have seen remarkable interest in the new, $500ish BHP clone.

Speaking of EAA at SHOT, they also had some modernized prototypes on hand that include an extended beavertail grip on the frame, a straight trigger, adjustable fiber optic sights, G10 grips, a built-in flared mag well, and an option for an accessory rail. 

More in my column at Guns.com.

The 411 on the new FN High Power (not the Browning Hi-Power)

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I dropped by FN’s booth at SHOT Show in Las Vegas this week to get the scoop on the new FN High Power pistol line.

Not just a restart of the old FN/Browning Hi-Power, the new 9mm guns have a 21st-century flair to them, with a 17+1 magazine capacity, ambi controls, texturing on the frame, better ergonomics, and FN 509-pattern dovetail sights. They will be available in three variants including the standard black model, one in FDE– sure to be a hit with modern FN owners who collect that genre– and a true stainless steel model. 

Each will ship with two sets of grips.

More in my column at Guns.com.

After taking a half-decade off, FN has Re-entered the Hi-Power Game

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FN America on Tuesday announced they are returning to the Hi-Power market in force with a new generation of 9mm pistols in three different variants. 

FN was the initial maker of the classic last handgun design conceived by John Moses Browning and realized by Dieudonné Saive, the latter the father of the FN 1949 and FN FAL. The company ended the line in 2017 and others have gone on to clone the iconic 9mm. 

To set the record straight, FN has returned the Hi-Power/High Power to production in an updated format with improved internals, a modern barrel lockup, a 17+1 flush-fit magazine capacity, and the ability to run hollow points.

Featuring ambidextrous controls and the elimination of the oft-detested magazine disconnect, the new High Power is available in stainless, FDE, and black finishes, retaining a single-action trigger that breaks crisply and cleanly.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Meet a new 5.56 Bullpup to the American Market, via Croatia

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Shrinking the size of their rifle game, Springfield Armory hit the market Friday with the Hellion bullpup 5.56 NATO platform.

An evolution of the proven HS Produkt-made VHS-2 rifle system, the Hellion has an overall length of just 28.25-inches while still possessing a carbine-length 16-inch CMV barrel with a 1:7 twist. The rifle uses a 2-position adjustable short-stroke gas piston operating system. It also has fully ambidextrous controls and a reversible ejection system that can be swapped without using special tools.

While the HS Produkt name is vague on the U.S. market, the Croatian gun maker is known for variants of its HS-2000 pistol, which has been imported to this side of the Atlantic for decades as the Springfield XD series. The VHS series rifle was first introduced in 2005– an evolution of a bullpup prototyped during the Croatian War of Independence in 1992– and today is the standard rifle of the Croatian military and police, as well as in use in other countries around the globe.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Meet .30 Federal Super Carry

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There have been a few .30-caliber rimless handgun rounds over the years that met with mixed success, for instance, the .30 Mauser– the round that most C96 Broomhandles and a fair amount of early Lugers were chambered in– as well as the .30 French Long (7.65x20mm Longue) of MAS 38/Mle. 35 and Pedersen Device fame. However, their days have come and gone.

With that being said, meet a new take on an old idea: Federal on Wednesday announced a new caliber that is more compact than 9mm NATO and more effective than .380 ACP– the .30 Super Carry. 

Calling it, “the most revolutionary advancement in self-defense history,” the Federal Premium .30 Super Carry at introduction runs a 100-grain .312 caliber bullet. When loaded in Federal’s HST profile self-defense line– with the 100-grain JHP reaching a velocity of 1,250 fps to pull down an energy load of 347 ft./lbs.– the company says it has a .530-inch expansion and 15.5-inches of penetration in ballistics gel. 

Federal 30 Super Carry sandwiched by 9mm and .380 HST loads (Photo: Federal)

The key takeaway from the specs is that the .30SC is slimmer overall than the 9mm, allowing more cartridges to be loaded per magazine, typically two more in the same length stick. For instance, in a Smith & Wesson Shield EZ that would normally have a 9mm capacity of 8+1, when available in .30SC that capacity would grow to 10+1 rounds.

Federal’s parent company, Vista Outdoors, is set to deliver loads from its Remington and Speer subsidiaries, while both Smith & Wesson and Nighthawk Customs reportedly have pistols inbound.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Aliens inbound

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For the past couple of years, I have been chasing around the Laugo Arms Alien, an interesting albeit pricy competition pistol made in the Czech Republic to a clean sheet design by the same guy who came up with the CZ Scorpion EVO.

(Photo: Chris Eger)

This week it was announced that Lancer Arms, in Pennsylvania, was granted an import license for the Alien and, after what is expected to be 4-6 weeks or so of hoops on the Czech end of things, the pistol should finally be here.

Now if they could just do something about the price.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Coolest Gun I’ve seen this year thus far

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At SHOT Show this week and found this bad boy, the Laugo Arms Alien.

(Photo: Chris Eger)

The innovative-looking handgun, with a mug much like the Xenomorph extraterrestrial in Ridley Scott’s Alien series, has been popping up on social media for the past couple of years. The Prague-based company announced its first run of 500 production guns at the 2019 IWA Outdoor Classics trade show in Nuremberg, Germany and announced this week they are coming to America.

The 9mm semi-auto has what is billed as the lowest bore axis available on a handgun, with the positioning of its fixed barrel some 1.7mm below the line of the grip axis. With an overall length of 8.2-inches, the Alien yields a 7.3-inch sight radius and 4.8-inch barrel length. With a standard 17+1 round capacity, the gun weighs in at 39.6-ounces with an empty magazine.

And you should see what they look like on this inside.

Do what?

European rifle makers resurgent

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One of the interesting things I came across in my travels around SHOT Show last month was that some classic Central European arms makers are still in the business of making classic European arms.

Over at Mauser’s booth, besides offerings in their classic M98 line for $10K+ safari rifles (!) there was the new M18, a $699 bolt-action billed as the “People’s rifle” (Volkswaffe) or “People’s repeater” (Volksrepetierer) by the German rifle maker. It’s a pretty sweet design, complete with a detachable mag, hidden cleaning kit in the butt (hey, it’s a Mauser) and a wide offering of calibers.

More about that over in my column at Guns.com

As for Steyr, which of course continues to market modern polymer framed pistols, precision rifles to include the giant HS-50 and their iconic AUG line of bullpups, they are bringing back the Zephyr. Now I had a chance to get my hands on a Zephyr .22 that belonged to my great-uncle as a kid and absolutely loved it. The reboot includes a traditional Bavarian cheek piece and fish scale checkering on a walnut stock, and an action so smooth it will make you cry.

More on that after the jump.

Why the Army’s new pistol has a top plate, and why that’s a big deal

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In the above video shot by my homie Ben Philippi, Sig’s Rich Morovitz talked to us at SHOT Show about the U.S. Army’s new M17 sidearm and points out some of the differences between the military’s variant and winner of the landmark Modular Handgun System contract and the standard Sig Sauer P320. Besides the manual safety– an Army requirement– Morovitz also goes into detail on the removable top plate for a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro sight, which is a big move for a MIL-STD handgun meant for the common Soldier in the field.

More info if you are curious here.

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