As I write this, I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. My feet are sore, my ears are tired, and I’m amazed I didn’t pick up some form of disease and sickness from the thousands of people who flock to SHOT Show every year. As I reflect on good luck, guns, and gear, I can’t help but think of the guns and gear that failed to impress me. These aren’t necessarily bad guns or bad pieces of gear, but they left me feeling ‘meh,’ and I was far from impressed. With that in mind, what left me feeling “Meh” at SHOT?
Vets Tactical Cupholster
I once wrote an article that was well over a thousand words long on why I think vehicle holsters are silly and unsafe. Imagine my feelings when I saw the Cupholster. I’ll give them credit for a fun name, but the rig failed to impress. It’s a holster that fits into your cup holder and holds your gun up for rapid access. My main problems with it are the same problems I have with any vehicle holster, and they’re mainly about safety.
Cars have accidents, and the last thing I want to worry about flopping around is my handgun. That seems to be asking for trouble. There are also issues with administrative handling when you remove the gun from your holster to put it in the cupholster. The design won’t be legal in all states, but that’s admittedly not Vets Tactical’s problem. However, I imagine encounters with Law Enforcement will be interesting, regardless of the legality of open carry in your state.
There are some major issues I have with the design outside of the inherent safety issues with vehicle holsters. First and foremost, the trigger is exposed on several of the models, which is very unsafe. That’s what happens with semi-universal designs. The Cupholster most certainly pinged my meh meter, and it’s not for me.
SK-X Rifles
When I heard a company was reproducing new SKS rifles and doing them in a ton of different calibers, the part of me that likes weird guns was excited. When I made my way to the booth, I was greeted by a monstrosity of an SKS. It was a quasi-AR-like design that looked like Tapco threw up all over it. This chassis system allowed the SKS to use AR mags, and that opened up the caliber options with various magazines.
The SKS rifles would be completely made from scratch, or you could convert your own rifle. I can deal with that, but the “meh” part of the design was the fact it didn’t seem to work. The chassis felt 3D printed, and it didn’t feel like the high-quality additive manufacturing we see in other parts of the gun world. I picked the gun up, and I couldn’t rack the gun, insert the magazine, or really make it functional.
What really pushed it to the edge of “meh” was the price. We are looking at $1,700 for a rifle that’s less accurate, less modular, and less modern than many a nice AR-15. In fact, if the examples I saw are any indicator of the quality of the gun, a standard SKS might be a better option. Sure, other calibers are cool, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the cost, and I have serious concerns about the quality.
Daniel Defense PCC
I like Daniel Defense, and I like PCCs, but I can’t help but feel disappointed by the DD PCC. It’s not just the most boring name in history, but it’s rather disappointing in its design. The DD PCC is an AR-type PCC, and it does use the Scorpion mags, which is clever. I like the fully ambidextrous lower receiver and the push button release for the Scorpion magazine.
However, the like stops there, and the “meh” starts with the action. It’s a straight blowback design, which is common for PCCs but not what you expect from a premier rifle company. Straight blowback creates excessive recoil and requires heavy bolts and recoil springs. Daniel Defense is using a hydraulic buffer bolt to help mitigate some recoil, but still, it’s meh.
The design also has a lot of proprietary parts, including proprietary bolt and charging handle system. The receivers are slightly shorter than standard, so that creates some compatibility issues. The DD PCC feels almost like an afterthought and is a check in the box for a rifle company to produce a PCC. The DD PCC is coming out as a full-length rifle, an SBR, and a pistol variant.
Glock 29 and 30 Gen 5
Glock makes good guns. There is no doubt about that. Their designs are reliable, robust, and accurate. The ergonomics might be meh, but you can’t deny that the gun works, and they dominate the market for a reason. This year, Glock released the Glock 49 series of handguns, which was quite nice, but alongside it, they released the Gen 5 variants of the Glock 29 and Glock 30 series pistols.
These guns define “Meh” for me. I like the Glock 29 and the 10mm cartridge, but it’s tough to get excited for a Gen 5 release. The Glock 29 and Glock 30 are neat ideas, but they are among the most awkward guns on the market. The grip is too short to get a nice, good full grip, and with the .45 ACP and 10mm through a small gun, you want to maximize the control you have. Instead of producing a Glock 29 and Glock 30 Gen 5, I’d love to see a compact variant of the 10mm and 45 ACP.
New guns that are roughly Glock 19 sized, but in the bigger, more powerful calibers. This would help maximize control and still remain fairly easy to conceal and easy to carry. The current choice is the awkward subcompact options or the fairly large full-sized guns. Something in between would be much better, in my opinion.
The Glut of Turkish Shotguns
The shotgun market has always had a healthy dose of Turkey in it, but recently, they’ve flooded the market and, therefore, flooded SHOT Show 2024. They are everywhere, on both floors and in the Caesar’s forum. Tons of companies rebranding the same design over and over in an attempt to sell it. I saw the same guns over and over, but they often had different names depending on the company selling them.
There is an absolute glut of Turkish shotguns and most aren’t very well made.
Not all Turkish shotguns are bad. Mossberg has some Turkish guns that aren’t bad, and so does Stoeger. There are a number of nice double barrels made for CZ out of Turkey. However, for every decent Turkish option, there are a dozen pieces of unreliable crap. Guns that resemble ARs, or bullpups, are often fed from box magazines of varying quality.
The glut of Turkish guns results in low-priced but low-quality guns being bought en mass by uneducated gun owners. These guns often feature tons of rails, interesting furniture, and often some nutty sights. There are just too dang many, and I’m sick of seeing them cover SHOT from wall to wall.
Parting Shots
I won’t lie; some of the best parts of SHOT are the weird stuff and the dumb stuff, but the meh stuff is also a little disappointing. Most of this stuff doesn’t seem to be bad, but it’s just meh. Sometimes it’s too little too late; other times it’s just worth asking why. Other times, we have to accept that meh exists, and we must sell, at least on occasion.
