The National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting has come and gone. NRAAM is an interesting event. It’s part of the NRA’s operating process and acts like a mini SHOT show. Unlike SHOT Show, NRAAM is open to the public and free for NRA members. While most companies will make some revelations at SHOT, a few saved rounds make it to NRAAM. This year, we saw several releases I think are worth the coverage, so let’s dig in and get down to the best releases of NRAAM.
The Best of NRAAM
My NRAAM picks are a mix of firearms and gear. The show was brimming with both, and this year was particularly exciting with a slew of unexpected releases. Some of these were on par with what you’d expect at the SHOT Show, while others were surprises.
Heritage Roscoe
Heritage Manufacturing has grown by leaps and bounds. The company was first known for creating the Rough Rider revolvers, cheap, fun-to-shoot rimfire revolvers in an Old West style. That’s all they were known for, in fact. In the last couple of years, the brand has added revolving rifles, lever-action rifles, double-barrel shotguns, and now a double-action revolver.
The Roscoe, a collaboration between Heritage and Taurus, is a retro reissue of the classic Model 85. It’s not your typical carry revolver but a throwback to the type of revolver you’d see a Private Detective in a noir book or movie carry. With its blued finish and five-shot capacity, the Roscoe is a stylish and functional addition to any collection.
The Roscoe has either a two- or three-inch barrel. The grips are skinny, and the stocks are wood. The ejection rod isn’t shrouded, and the sight is a front-ramping design. It’s a classic double-action revolver that we don’t see much these days. With an MSRP of $299, the Roscoe provides a fun, affordable, and perfectly suitable carry gun.
Taurus 692 Executive Grade
Taurus hits us again with a new addition to the Executive Grade. One I’m particularly excited about is the Taurus 692, an underrated revolver that I’m hoping will get some attention now. The revolver’s claim to fame is the ability to swap cylinders to shoot either .357 Magnum/.38 Special or 9mm. This makes ammo for the gun cheap and affordable, but you don’t lose out on Magnum capabilities.
The Executive Grade model comes with a ported barrel, smooth cylinder, wood grips, and nice sights. The rear sight is adjustable, and the front sight is a high-visibility model. The gun has a three-inch barrel but a fairly large frame. It’s an easy shooter that lets you play revolver fan on the cheap when using 9mm Luger.
This is one of the best choices for new revolver shooters. The sights, slick double action trigger, and low recoiling 9mm will make it pleasant to shoot. With a little practice, you can easily move to .357 Magnums and learn the way of the Magnum.
Taylor and Company TC73 Rifle
Speaking of 9mm in guns, it doesn’t belong in Taylor and Company delivers the TC73, a 9mm model of the Winchester 1873 rifle. Taylor & CO. produced a Single Action Army clone in 9mm a few years back. It was a ton of fun to shoot, and this seems like a smart continuation of that series. Revolvers and lever guns tend to be expensive to shoot.
Every major revolver and lever gun cartridge outside of .22LR is expensive. The classic 9mm cartridge is cheap, widely available, and fun to shoot. It’s a great choice for someone who enjoys plinking with a lever-action rifle but wants something with a little more oomph than a rimfire cartridge.
The TC73 won’t be a cheap rifle, but it does seem to be a niche option. The gun holds ten rounds of 9mm and has an 18-inch barrel. Hopefully, it will outperform the other 9mm lever guns on the market.
Colt Bear Guns
In the early 1990s, Colt released a very short run of revolvers called the Kodiak and the Grizzly. These guns are ultra rare, with less than a thousand of them. They are highly desirable revolvers. Following Colt’s reentry into the wheel gun world, we see Python and Anaconda, but Colt decides to give the modern shooter a shot at the Bear guns.
The Colt Grizzly is a .357 Magnum double-action revolver built on the Python frame. It features a beefy frame design, a vent rib, a full lug, and a smooth, unfluted cylinder. These guns are gorgeous and ready for a hike into the great outdoors. The MSRP is $1,599, which isn’t cheap but less than I expected.
The Colt Kodiak is built on the Anaconda frame and fires the mighty .44 Magnum. The Kodiak gets the same vent rib and full lug treatment as well as the unfluted and smith cylinder. The big difference is the porting up front to keep things easy to control. The MSRP for the Kodiak matches the Grizzly at $1,599.
Shadow Systems CR920X
Shadow Systems has moved into the micro-compact realm with the release of the CR920X series pistol. Shadow Systems makes what are essentially high-end Glock clones, and the CR920X series is more or less molded after the Glock 43X. The gun follows the pattern of a long hand-filling grip with a short barrel and slide.
Unlike the G43X series, the CR920X series utilizes 15-round or 18-round magazines. They are true microcompacts when it comes to magazine capacity. These guns will be available in the premium Elite and base-level Foundation series.
The CR920X series is ready and comes with a short front rail. This represents a premium grade option in the micro-compact world. The slides are fancy and good-looking, the grips are extremely textured, and the little features take the gun to a different level.
The Gear
Shield Arms ROC
ROC stands for Revolver Optics Conversion. Shield Arms is manufacturing the conversion, but the firearms instructors from MDFI designed the conversion. The ROC allows you to easily add a micro red dot to a J-Frame revolver, specifically the S&W 442, but the future holds many other models. This conversion requires no milling, attaches to the revolver’s frame, and allows you to use Trijicon RMR or Shield RMSc footprint optics. It’s a simple option to convert the old wheelguns out there to new technology.
Magpul ELG Furniture
Magpul has taken on the AR market, the AK Market, the MP5, and the Scorpion, and now they are entering the world of lever guns. The ELG furniture comprises a stock and handguard designed for Marlin lever action rifles. The stock takes a page out of the SGA design and uses spaces for an adjustable length of pull, plenty of sling points, and an integrated caddy for carrying extra ammo. The handguard is long, aggressive, and covered with M-LOK slots. These two present a quality but affordable option to modernize a lever gun.
Streamlight TLR-7 HL-X
Big things are happening in the world of weapons light, and some of the big things are small things. The TLR-7 is Streamlight’s compact weapon light that swings in hard to deliver potent power with a compact-sized weapon light. The TLR-7 HL-X model throws 1,000 lumens of light backed by 22,000 candela. That’s crazy for such a small light and takes it into the duty world of weapon lights. This optic can only last 30 minutes on this setting, which is a downside. The system is rechargeable via USB-C and can be swapped to 500 lumens with 11,000 candela for a long lifespan.
New Year, New Guns
NRAAM is over, and we are bathing in the wake of some interesting new releases. I’m a big fan of these releases, and it’s nice to see something outside of the world of AR-15s and M1911s. This year seems like it might be one of the more interesting for gun releases. What do you think? Let us know below.
