The 16 Coolest Things We Saw at NRA Show

FN Reflex

One of the more interesting guns on display at Indianapolis over the weekend was FN’s latest attempt at making a tiny carry pistol in 9mm. With both the single-stack FN 503 and downright thick FN 509 Compact failing to capture the imagination, the company has now taken a page out of the Sig P365’s book and has an 11+1 (flush fit mag)/15+1 (extended fit mag) micro 9mm compact on the books: the FN Reflex.

It is priced decent for an American-made micro 9, starting at $599, and they offer it in both black and FDE as well as in optics-ready models. The main thing we hate is that it says “REFLEX” in huge letters down the slide. Um, okay.

CZ Scorpion 3 Plus carbine

CZ has been making the Scorpion 3 series for the better part of a decade and a couple of years ago moved to put the Scorpion 3 EVO line to pasture, replacing it with the Scorpion 3 Plus (because “Scorpion 4” wasn’t available?).

The 3 Plus series, which had just been offered in pistol format, had a redesigned receiver (and thus a new magazine) along with a threaded barrel. Logically, CZ took the plunge last week and added a full-on pistol caliber carbine model to the list, featuring a 16-inch barrel and the same folding and adjustable stock as used on the old EVO.

Curiously, they are listing the carbine at $999, which is like $200-$300 less than other, less capable, Scorpion 3 Plus pistol models.

Springfield Armory, the Colors, the Colors

As we have touched on several times in the past few months, Springfield Armory has been getting in touch with its color wheel options. We managed to lay hands on the new Platinum Hellcat Pro, as well as the previously announced Bronze and Robins Egg Hellcats, as well as the new FDE XDM in 10mm— talk about a hog leg!

Springfield also has introduced four different furniture colorways for its Saint Victor line of 5.56 mid-gas-length carbines.

Dan Wesson Specialist

CZ’s semi-custom American-based 1911 wing, Dan Wesson, has been making a Specialist model off and on for the past decade or so. A .45 ACP rail gun (fitted with an M1913 accessory rail on the frame), it is feature rich with just about everything you would want in an entry gun for serious use. Well, DW finally got with the program and made the Specialist optics-ready, compatible with the RMR and DPP footprints.

Of course, it still costs $2300, but it’s probably worth it.

Auto-Ordnance Cold Dead Hands

Sure, we thought it was a little cringe-worthy, but it is done in sort of a tasteful cringe by Outlaw Ordnance. The “Shall not be infringed” engraved on the left side of the slide, and “76” surrounded by thirteen stars on the right give it a very Constitutional Carry feel while the custom Cerakote Light Sand and Plum Brown finish is…almost soothing.

The grips are a little over the top, but there are literally thousands of different 1911 grips out there.

EAA MC 14 T tip-up barrel 380

Girsan in Turkey has been exceptionally good at borrowing existing, already long ago proven, designs and making them just a little better. Just look at their Beretta 92 clones (Regard), FN Hi-Power clones (MCP-35), and 1911s. Going just a step past that concept, their MC 14 looks as if they have now taken the Beretta 80 series Cheetah 380 and added a tip-up barrel to it like the ones seen on the Beretta Bobcat .22/.25 and Tomcat .32.

It is actually kind of genius when you think of it, as this shortcuts the S&W EZ and Ruger Lite Rack series of guns with an easy-to-load pistol that still runs a simple blowback action.

EAA looks ready to import like a half dozen different SKUs of these 13+1 round .380s in a bunch of assorted colors, all hitting at about the $500 mark with retailers.

FN 15 Guardian

About the cheapest you could get into a new FN 15 series AR, up until this month, was dropping about $1,400 on an FN 15 Patrol Rifle model, which is a fairly vanilla 5.56. Now, that has changed with the new $999 FN 15 Guardian.

On hand at Indianapolis last week, the new Guardian is even more vanilla than the FN 15 Patrol Rifle, with a 16-inch mil-spec barrel, mid-length gas system, A2 flash hider, mostly mil-spec internals, and a 15-inch generic M-LOK aluminum handguard. FN even made a run of in-house furniture which looks kind of Anderson-like. However, it is still an FN for less than $1K– and you can always change out the furniture.

On a side note, the Guardian uses a slick-side upper receiver sans forward assist that stands to reduce snag points and cleaning time. Plus, it looks great. If you told me FN was selling the upper by itself for a reasonable price, I’d probably own one.

Henry Big Boy revolvers

Coming out of left field, Henry is now making a pair of medium-framed double-action/single-action revolvers in .357/38. They look sort of a mashup between a Charter Arms 38 and the old H&R model 925 with some Colt New Service features thrown in on top. Oh yeah, plus, it has a brass trigger guard and grip strap. The latter feature is very Henry as the company uses brass on a lot of their rifles and shotguns, especially the Big Boy carbines which are available in .357.

Henry is offering the Big Boy revolvers in both a square grip and a rounded grip, with all other features– including the $925 ish price– being the same. Reaction to these was decidedly mixed on the floor in Indy, with lots of people falling in instant love, and almost as many being violently offended in one form or another.

Kimber K6XS

In more revolver news, Kimber this week announced their lightest six-shooter to date, the K6XS Carry. As the name would hint, this 15-ounce .38 is set up to compete against Colt’s modern Cobra series and S&W’s J-frames with its $679 asking price falling in about the same ballpark as most of the above.

Who says the revolver game is dead?

Kimber KDS9C

While Para-Ordnance failed to strike it rich in the 1980s and 90s with double-stack 1911-style pistols, Staccato and the also-rans who are doing essentially the same thing today are practically printing money. Kimber seems to have noticed and now has introduced a double-stack Commander-length 1911 9mm to the market.

Dubbed the KDS9C (Kimber Double Stack 9mm Commander?) it is a 15+1 capacity single-action pistol with a very nice fluted 4-inch barrel.

Weight is only 28 ounces due to the use of an alloy frame and lots of deep slide serrations to help lighten things up. The price is $1,499, which is high for a 1911 but competitive when it comes to the 2011 field.

Magnum Research BFR in 360 Buckhammer

Magnum Research, the same people who brought the Desert Eagle to life, have been making their BFR (you guess what it stands for) since around 1995. While some small framed variants are available in such pedestrian calibers as .22 and .357, the bread and butter for these are huge lever gun chamberings and massive super magnum revolver rounds like .500 JRH and .460 S&W.

This brings us to the newest BFR, chambered in the new .360 Remington Buckhammer, a big thumping cartridge designed for hunting use in “straight-walled” states like Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois where sportsmen were formerly restricted to taking deer with shotguns.

The stats on the newest BFR are almost silly, with a 10-inch barrel and a weight hitting nearly six pounds, but if you just really want to have a big friggen revolver that can slam a whitetail at 100 yards or more, this could be your ticket.

Marlin 336

We got a closer look at the new Ruger reboot of the old Marlin 336. It looks great, probably better than vintage 336s floating around. The bad news is the price, with the .30-30 lever gun hitting $1,200, suggested. If the going rate for new Ruger-made Marlin 1895s on the secondary market is any hint, you can probably add another 20 percent to that figure.

Expect more companies to start making a move to lever guns if this keeps up.

Ruger Super Wrangler

The Ruger Super Wrangler .22LR/.22WMR convertible drew a decent crowd at Indianapolis over the weekend, with the buzz being generally positive.

The Cerakoted alloy framed single-action plinker is a step up from the company’s Wrangler, as it has a longer barrel, better sights, and, as mentioned, the ability to run .22 magnums as well. We love the standard Wrangler but noted in our review that a .22WMR cylinder option would have been nice.

The price is $329, with three different color choices available. Expect a review of this one in the coming weeks.

Stoeger STR-9MC

Beretta’s Turkish offshoot, Stoeger has introduced a micro-compact 9 pistol to that increasingly crowded space. Learning from complaints that its previous series of STR-9 polymer-framed striker-fired pistols only had one mag, all of the STR-9MC models ships with either two or three, across a combination of 10+1 round flush fit or 13+1 round extendos.

The specs on the Stoeger STR-9MC are comparable to the P365/P365X but the price is better, with an ask in the $399 range (a figure surely lower over the counter at your local dealer.) For $75 more you can get it optics-ready.

Winchester 400 Legend

Because the company’s .350 Legend was perhaps seen as too small to dome despite its 250-grain bullet weight, Winchester has grown the highly adaptable straight-walled cartridge category even further by introducing the new .400 Legend.

Optimized for ballistic and terminal performance out to 300 yards on big-game and nuisance species like feral hogs, Winchester introductory 215-grain Power Point load is rated for 2,250 fps at the muzzle. The resulting energy dump is 25 percent more than .350 Legend.

While no rifles are currently available for it, Ruger, Mossberg, Savage, and others are all reportedly working on introducing .400s within the next year.

Hi-Point Model 3095 in 30 Super Carry

In the most current installment of giving the market something no one asked for, Hi-Point has debuted a modified version of its impossible-to-kill pistol caliber carbine in .30 Super Carry. While winning the award for being the first to make a PCC in .30SC, Hi-Point has kind of missed the point by sticking with its circa 1995 Federal Assault Weapon Ban practice of only shipping guns with 10-round flush fit magazines.

Keep in mind the hook of the .30 SC was that it allowed an extra round or two in magazine capacity when compared to 9mm carry guns, without falling into the performance envelope of .380 or .32 ACP.

Anyway, the Hi-Point Model 3095 in 30 Super Carry is priced at $329.