Industry Day at the Range is a special event the Monday before SHOT Show fully opens on Tuesday. This year, the event was once again hosted by Boulder Rifle and Pistol Club at their extensive outdoor range, which is about 45 minutes from the Venetian Expo Center where the show is held. Normally, the media is invited to the range first, with buyers arriving later in the day. However, due to expected inclement weather, buyers and media were allowed to attend at any time this year.
Though I count as both, I have been attending as a buyer for years, so I have traditionally attended the afternoon session out of habit. But this year, I went out as it opened at 8:30 am due to the schedule change.
What makes Industry Day special is the ability to shoot new pistols, rifles, and shotguns with ammo provided by the manufacturers. You can learn a lot about a gun’s balance, handling, sights, and trigger by dry-firing and handling it, but there is no comparison to running some live rounds through a new firearm.
For example, I had a passing interest in the Hudson H9 back in 2018, but when I got to shoot one at Industry Day, that interest became a desire (More on the H9 in my next article on SHOT Show). This year, Industry Day boasted over 150 exhibitors, with 60 standard shooting ranges, 16 long-distance shooting ranges, and multiple shotgun ranges. Manufacturers present included American Tactical, Barrett, Browning, Bushmaster, Colt, CZ, Glock, H&K, Henry, Kel-Tec, Kimber, Laugo, Ruger, Savage Arms, Tokarev, Walther, and many more.
Overall Impressions
Every year Industry Day is very similar, but different at the same time. This comes with a combination of who is there, what new guns are available to try, the weather, and even the energy of the attendees. Coming out in the morning was less busy than I am used to, but at the same time, you still need a fair amount of patience as there are often lines.
Coolest New Shooting Irons
Let’s get right down to the firearms that caught my attention. I stopped at all of the vendors but made sure I got to live-fire most of the new releases available. I did shoot a fair number of other guns, but my primary focus was on new releases for this quick review.
Long Guns
First up was Bushmaster featuring their newest .450 Bushmaster AR-15, their retro ARs, and a full auto AR-15. The .450 Bushmaster was well-balanced and had remarkably light recoil for the amount of lead it was throwing down range.
The Retro AR-15 has a distinct appeal to this Gen-Xer who grew up on the M-16 and I may have to pick one of these up. Finally, the only thing that’s better at putting a smile on your face than shooting full-auto is shooting it for free!
Next up was Colt’s CBX chambered in .308. They had the sights set for 100 yards, and the rifle hit the plate dead on time after time and was a very smooth-running bolt-action rifle.
After shooting the CBX, I moved on to Henry repeating arms to try the new lever-action magazine-fed rifle in .223/5.56 NATO. Not surprisingly, it was a very accurate firearm with a forward-of-the-trigger magazine release. The look and function are exactly what I would expect from a Henry rifle.
I also checked out Bilson Arms BA-14C pump-style charging system with a forward grip (like a pump action shotgun) that allows for using the support hand to charge or clear malfunctions in what was otherwise an AR platform. A final stop for long guns (and a transition to handguns) was at Kel-Tec to try the new Gen 3 Sub-2000 chambered in 9mm.
I had not shot one of these before, but it was remarkably accurate at 100 yards and features a rotating front barrel that lets you fold it in half for storage while keeping the optics in place. The Gen 3 does not come with sights, just a top-mounted rail for optics or flip-up iron sights. I felt that this was a huge upgrade over the previous models.
Handguns
Transitioning to handguns, Glock was focused on their new Gen 5’s and the new Glock 49 (Glock 17 slide with a Glock 19 frame) optic-ready. I shot both the Glock 49 in 9mm and the Glock 29 in 10mm. I carried a Glock 29 for years and the range officer was impressed as I ran it better than the Glock 49.
With the passing of Gaston Glock, I asked who now owned the company. Suddenly, half of the staff walked away as if to avoid the question. One humorous Glock employee stated, “All I know for sure is it is not me.” That made me chuckle, but the question remains.
The next stop was Rock Island where I tried the STK 100 and was very impressed with its style and look as well as how it handled recoil. There are a lot of options in the striker-fired carry gun world, but Rock Island has developed a reputation for more affordable but very reliable handguns so I look forward to seeing more of these.
Later, I moved down the line to visit the Walther booth and their new metal frame PDP 9mm pistols. I have always been a fan of Walther handguns, and the PDP did not disappoint. To begin, I shot the full-sized and compact version, and both are fine additions to Walther’s available options for handguns. I was also glad to see each of these had their unique look and feel, as many companies are putting our metal frame versions of their currently polymer framed guns.
I also got to try the new Kimber KDS9C, a double-stack 9mm carry gun designed around the 1911 platform. Again, it is no secret I have a place in my heart for both 1911s and Kimber firearms, so there is little question I will be adding this gun to my collection. It might even get me to rethink considering a 1911 for carry.
The final two stops for handguns included H&K, who were showcasing their MP5 in .22LR and their VP9 line of handguns, and Shadow Systems with their compensated model CR920P pistol and their new modular suppressor on the MR920L. Both guns ran flawlessly, and I was impressed with the MR920L’s ability to adapt to an extended suppressor.
Other Products
There were products on display other than firearms, including Snakestaff Systems demonstrating their reduced-size tourniquets. Their tourniquets take up about half the space of a regular tourniquet but function very similarly. They were running a 17-second challenge to tourniquet a practice arm to win either a challenge coin or one of their tourniquets. I also tried the various products available from DryFireMag, including their combo set and a dryfire magazine (allowing the trigger to reset without racking) with a chambered laser to determine hit locations. They seemed pretty nifty… maybe we can try one out in the future!
Summary
All in all, I spent over three hours at Industry Day at the Range and got to send a good 200-300 rounds down range from a variety of new handguns and rifles. Finally, SHOT Show would not be SHOT Show without free swag. In addition to hats, stickers, morale patches, and pens, I also scored a couple of metal water bottles, a range set (eyes and ears), and a pair of Ironclad touchscreen tactical gloves. Returning to the Venetian in Vegas after lunch, I walked through the Suppliers Showcase (the only vendors open on Monday) and am looking forward to the full start of SHOT show on Tuesday.
