With two months of Testing & Evaluation travel in the rear view mirror, it’s safe to say that 2019 will be a very good year for shooters. New shotguns, rifles and pistols will be making it difficult for many of us to decide how many of these new guns are must haves, as opposed to those years when we wondered if there would be anything worth considering buying.
Ruger, Remington, SIG, Taurus, and Mossberg are all rolling out new stuff in advance of this week’s NASGW meetings, but a few guns and pieces of gear have stuck in my mind.
Why? Because I’ve actually spent time shooting production models of each of them.
I’ve emphasized production models because it’s not enough to shoot prototypes. The final guns may be months out in production -or our T&E time may turn up significant challenges. And optics always present their own challenges.
The products we’re most concerned with are the ones that will be showing up (eventually, in the case of some like SIG’s P365 where production can’t keep up with demand) on dealer’s shelves. Granted, I’ve shot several prototypes- including one that was entirely printed using 3-D printing technology, but as far as I’m concerned those don’t count-yet.
Testing of guns we couldn’t talk about started months ago when I traveled to FTW Ranch in Texas for what was billed as a dangerous game instruction class.
It was that, in spades, but it was also the first time I’d seen or heard anything about Ruger’s newest entry into their Precision Rifle line- the .338 Lapua.
We put .300 Winchester magnums and .338 Lapuas through their pace on FTW’s long distance training ranges, but were asked to keep the .338 on the low-down until Ruger had enough units in the pipeline to start putting them into the retail chain. If you’re a long-distance shooters and have been considering stepping up caliber-wise to the “heavy metal” it’s time to start making room in your safe.
Hits to 1,000 yards were simple, but tricky winds made it more problematic to get those 1-mile rounds on target. When the winds died down, we took our Ruger-branded Kestrel units (they’re also coming soon- and preloaded with Ruger’s rifle calibers) hit the mats, remembered to “breathe and squeeze” and made multiple hits on targets at 1780 yards with the .300 Win Mags and the .338s...that’s 5,340 feet, or one-mile plus. Better shooters made shots well beyond the one-mile range.
Ruger’s not the only player in the long-range precision race.
Last week at the SIG Academy in New Hampshire “Chalk 07” members made hits out to 1,000 yards with all-SIG equipment- from rifle to rangefinder, ammunition and optics. Two weeks ago in Arkansas, we used Remington Chassis Rifles for equally impressive long-range shooting.
Now’s probably a good time to consider getting into the long-distance shooting space. In the next few months, you’ll be able to put together fully-equipped rifle kits (rifle, rangefinder, scope) in either bolt action or semi-auto, for significantly less than the cost of a “naked” rifle less than 18 months ago.
And if competition shooting’s your thing, you’ll have a new Ruger 10/22 to consider for rimfire challenge-style events, along with a Ruger 1911 in 9mm. Having shot both the prototype 9mm Koenig pistol and a tricked-out 10/22 in the Sportsman’s Team Challenge, I’m pretty certain these will both be as close to “competition-ready” as most of us need to be. The fact they’re both useful for other applications is just a bonus.
It’s also a good time to consider upgrading optics.
Crimson Trace, Smith & Wesson, and SIG all have their own lines either coming to market or expanding. And Vortex, Leupold, Nightforce and a host of other companies have new units coming to market. What that means is prices will likely drop on their existing optics - and there’s nothing wrong with those units either. But the addition of bells and whistles, from Bluetooth communications between rangefinders and scopes continues as optics continue to get smarter.
A long day shooting SIG’s X5 pistols with their red-dots on top in personal defensive training- including contact drills - has convinced me the red-dot is moving into the “must-have” space alongside pistol lasers and lights. In fact, with more police departments accepting red dots for duty carry almost weekly, there’s now anecdotal evidence of their durability and usefulness for law enforcement. That makes them almost essential for “the rest of us.”
If there’s anything I’ve noticed in this season’s travel, it’s the growing trend of larger companies to vertically integrate. Today, it’s possible for a SIG enthusiast to gear up with everything from guns to optics, rangefinders and ammunition. Ditto Smith & Wesson and Remington (via their family of brands).
That’s not intended to imply there aren’t other great products coming from other manufacturers. But the trend toward vertical integration is undeniable as large companies gobble up good fits and integrate the smaller companies’ innovation into their infrastructure. It’s not always without its challenges, but it does mean more innovation and selection for customers.
Can’t see that as a bad thing.
—Jim Shepherd