After a smashing day at the show yesterday, Wednesday, official Day 2 started a bit slower- mostly centered around more sleep and big food before going back to the Convention Center. I posted the Day 1 article at what would have ben 330 AM Chicago time, so I needed a bit of slow crawl today!
Instead of just wandering, I targeted some companies I did not find yesterday.
51Fifty Rifles
I was new to this company but found Pro Shooter Nate Schmidt there examining the rifles, both AR style and bolt action including a gorgeous .338 Lapua on a bipod in a tech stock. Nate was recently an invited participant on the TV show “Surviving Mann” and said 51Fifty supplied guns to the TV Show. The show is hosted by Don Mann, a former SEAL Team 6 member (yeah, yeah, the Navy still denies Team 6 exists and won’t up the name in print) and it is apparently a reality show on the Pursuit Channel testing strength, strategy, survival and strength among contestants. Nate’s episode hasn’t aired yet, but there are rumors of contestants shooting one-mile targets with the 51Fifty .338 Lapua. I got to meet the Mad Scientist owner/designer of the company Keith Berry who commenced showing me strange latches on an AR and pulling the upper off in about 2 seconds. He and other engineers worked for several years to rework what they call the Linear Motion Control inside the AR platform. Most unusual was the front of the upper does not have a pin, instead it has a curved arm Keith call a cam, it rolls in under a hook in the front and a cam at the back faces the opposite direction. He said the resulting lock up is so solid it removes movement in the upper and lower frames. It was so tight I could not see any gap between the upper and lower. Keith has applied for a patent on some other internals, but it is all hush hush until notified by the US Patent Office. Keith said they have run over his AR’s with trucks to test the lock up strength- with no damage to the guns or the trucks. He has a 51Fifty being used by a 3 gunner for two years now and the round count is over 15,000 and examination of the rifle is shooting tighter than ever. Keith just laughs at the term 1 MOA and said he expects his ARs to regularly beat that measurement. 51Fifty has just picked up a contract along with DGI with the Nigerian government to outfit troops and police this year and several Nigerian officials were present in the booth. Oh and they introduced me to Randy Couture there. Yes the MMA legend, author, movie and TV star. Very nice man. I made sure I did not poke him in the chest though!
Grizzly Coolers
I staggered to a stop at this exhibit. It is a giant cooler along with the sign saying a man survived a hurricane for 17 hours inside this Grizzly cooler. Now I did not actually take the time to look at the video, but did scratch my head wondering “Well, why?”
Kimber
They have a large booth chock full of iconic 1911’s from plain Jane to tricked out. Looking for something new, I found their very handsome new “micro” 9mm. It is like no other micro on the market. First of all, the frame is metal not polymer, aluminum to be sure and topped off with stainless steel slides. Second, this cool gat is double stack in a 1911 profile so it can hold 9mm mags in 10 rd, 13 and even 15 rd extended mag- which makes a dandy extended gripping surface The grips are orange hued and really stand out, and the backstrap is reverse at the bottom or bobbed if you will. It is a very comfy handful. It of course comes pre-cut for optics or can be had with a dot already mounted. Base model is $1095
Springfield Armory
Pretty new to their catalog is the Echelon 4.0 and Echelon 4.5. (I apparently missed versions 1-3). This is a compact sized feature filled 9mm which goes head-to-head with the likes of Sig P320s and Glock 43X and 48. The 4 designation refers to the 4-inch barrel. It is threaded and you notice the very aggressive gripping rails at front and back of the slide. The Springfield sights are 3 dot Tritium, but the rear sight is U shaped instead of square. Seems like a good system putting the round front sight in the U. The Echelon 4.5 F is quite similar and cut for optics. Springfield has a fire control unit called the Central Operating Group and like the Sig FCU it is removable as a single piece and dropped into other polymer lower frames. The pistols have 17 and 20 round mags for the 4.5 and 15/18 round mags for the 4.0. Prices are $749 and $719.
Tekna
I was glad to bump into the Tekna stand on the lower level today. The current company bought out the old SCUBA based Tekna 20 years ago and still produces excellent LED lights which are impervious to water much deeper than you are. They still have the Tekna dive knife a nifty single piece of stainless steel in a skeletonized holder but the number of high-quality lights for on land and lower is amazing. I talked about good flashlights in foreign lands and the advised they deliberately don’t use funky and hard to find batteries to supply their lights. They are cranking high lumens out of good old C batteries! One light I really liked is a hybrid design with a three-inch handle and a large head- puts out 1,000 lumens and while being very compact and if used correctly could possibly do X-rays.. ok just kidding. Tekna has also tooled up some new pistol and rifle mounted lights. I still have some 30+ year old Tekna lights I still taking diving. Darn near bulletproof. When it is not in the water it resides in the drawer next to my bed. Good company.
5.11 hosted an afterhours party at their LV store and they know how to throw a party! They had walk up logo walls for photos like a Hollywood premier, free drinks, swag bags, free Mexican food and a disc jockey. You were also allowed to go into the attached 5.11 store and get 20% off everything in the store. They had some “famous” guy there I never heard of and a large number of people wearing black polyester jackets and boots. I did not stay long as I am allergic to too much “Tactical” anything and Velcro. Not to mention so many self-anointed “operators” I must have been in the presence of greatness and missed it. Thanks for your cervix.