Gary's Gun Notes #161

I am half way thru Memorial day and have been off work for a day and a half...and am bored to tears. The worst thing to do to a workaholic is give him 2 days off in a row. Loaded a bunch of ammo last night. Cleaned off and re-arranged my loading bench this morning. And thank the Lord I have Gun Notes to do this afternoon.

It is sort of strange that the NRA Annual Meeting and Show ends up having more actual honest new stuff shown than the SHOT SHOW seems to. The SHOT SHOW seems to be more of a concept show rather than showing actual new guns. Probably because the NRA Annual Show is for everybody while the SHOT SHOW is supposed to be for dealers only. Anyway, I received more info about new gear in the last week or two of new stuff at the NRA Show that I have during the last 2 months about the SHOT SHOW.

Most people know that Beretta lost the military contract for handguns. Their M-9 is now a thing of history. The U.S. Military is looking for a new sidearm for our troops and rumor has it that the Glock is leading the pack. If so that will be an excellent idea. A shot time ago the U.S. Marines turned in their Colt Close Quarter Combat 1911s that were given to the Marines and some special forces, and asked for their Glocks back. I thought that unusual but understandable. They said the Glock held more rounds, weighed less and had considerably less jamming in bad weather conditions. Again fully understandable.

When Beretta lost the contract, apparently they had a lot of guns ready to ship to the military that now will either go to foreign military contracts, National Guard units, U.S. Police departments or to the public. I received word this past week that they are using some of the available parts to build a new M-9A1 in 22. While it looks just like the M-9 Beretta it has a few improvements added to it. Besides being chambered in 22 LR, it has a Picatinney rail on the front of the frame, an ambi safety and decocker, dovetail sights, and several other features. There are two versions coming, a 10 round model and a 15 round model. Suggested retail in the $450 range.

Another unusual one is the release of the 92 Compact that they are calling something brand new. Way back in the early 90s they had the 92 Compact out, the 92 C if I remember right. Now they are saying it is a brand new model. Another unusual point is the slide markings. It says Made in Italy. My gut feeling is they have a lot of older parts and need to sell them so they are marketing a “new” Beretta 92 using Italian parts. I could be way off on my assumptions here. Just call it a gut feeling. Retail is said to be $700.

Smith & Wesson has been busy lately. They have several new offerings in their Shield line up and in their M&P line up. They have a new M&P 22 Compact out in a special Cerakote finish, a flat Dark Earth finish. The guns come suppressor ready with threaded barrel. They are 10+1 capacity. They have the white dot sights and are all set up like their bigger brothers. Suggested retail is $429.

In the Smith & Wesson Shield line up they have added Performance Center ported Shields with night sights. It is available in 9mm and 40 S&W, 8 rounds in the 9mm and 7 rounds in the 40 caliber., They have done some “enhancing” on the trigger to lighted it up also. The retail is said to be $600 on both.
Probably the best news on the S&W Shield is they have a new 45 caliber Shield coming out. The entire gun is only a bit over 6” long with a 3.3” barrel. The new 45 caliber Shield only weighs 20 ounces and the gun holds 7 +1 rounds in an extended magazine and 6 +1 rounds with the short magazine. There are actually two versions of the gun coming out, one with a thumb safety and the other without the thumb safety. Retail on the new 45 Shield is $479 without or without the thumb safety.

Another company that has added to their pistol line up is Springfield Armory. They have added 5 new models, 4 of them in the XD line up and one in the 1911 line up. They have a new XD-S in 9mm with a 3.3” barrel and finished in Tactical gray, a new XD Model 2 in a 4” 9mm also in Tactical gray, a new XD Model 2 in a 4” threaded barrel and with higher sights for suppressor use. They have also added a new XD(M) 4.5” 9mm OSP, the Optical Sight Pistol and it comes with 3 base options. The final new model is in the 1911 category and is their EMP 4” Champion in 40 S&W.

Ruger probably has more new products every year than all the other handgun manufacturers put together . This year is no exception that that. Their newest is a new special 10-22. It is the 10-22 Takedown Lite. It combines the popular features of the 10-22 takedown with a new lighter weight barrel and the Ruger Modular stock System. The new barrel is a cold hammer forged alloy steel barrel with an aluminum alloy sleeve. The barrel sleeve is also ventilated making it even lighter. The barrel is also threaded and comes with a thread protector nut.

I mentioned last time that Stag Arms is back in business with new owners. And it appears they are not satisfied to continue with business as usual. They have introduced a new 7.62X39 AR. The new gun has the appeal of the standard AR-15 but with the rugged reliability of the AK-47. The gun works just like any standard AR-15 but has a unique curved magazine like that of the AK-47. Other than the new magazine, the gun looks like any M-4 AR, with the Picatinney rail on top of the flattop receiver, the A2 style muzzle brake, a 16½” barrel and all the standard controls and features of any AR-15.

Years ago there was a handgun maker named Wilkinson Arms. The owner made several handguns and named each one after one of his daughters, such as the Wilkinson Linda, the Wilkinson Sherry, the Wilkinson Diane and one or two others that I can’t think of now. Now there is another Wilkinson on the market. I have no idea if the owner is related to the older Wilkinson family but this one specializes in unusual guns also. The company is Wilkinson Tactical and the gun is the CR-12. That is a semi automatic 12 gauge shotgun. The gun features an 18½” barrel and uses a detachable 5 round box magazine. The gun looks much like an overgrown AR-15 with it’s collapsible stock, flattop receiver with Picatinney rail and another Picatinney on top of the floating handguard. It is also fully ambi and sports a double set trigger (exactly what that is for is beyond me). It also comes with a set of Hi-Viz tactical sights. And a special EOTech Holo weapon sight is an option. Also by switching the upper the new CR-12 is convertible to fire 308 rounds. And standard 308 magazines fit the gun too. No word yet on price or availability.

On the personal note, we have added several new series over the past month or two. One of those is our TRAIL GUN. This one comes in 2 models, both are conversions we do converting a rim fire to a center fire revolver. One of the two is built on the customer’s Blackhawk or Super Blackhawk in a dual cylinder gun, chambered in 32-20 and 327 Federal. The second one is based on the customer’s Single Six and is chambered in a 6 shot 218 Bee. We have added another caliber to the Single Six version. That is the 30 Carbine, which gives the Single Six approximately the power of a 357 Magnum in a small compact package.

Our Longslide packages are doing very well lately. We have our new 10mm Hog Hunter Longslide that is a full custom, built from the ground up on a 1911 base gun. With the longer 6 inch barrel and our own comp that we build from scratch giving the gun plenty of punch for the baddest of wild boar. The longer barrel helps to burn more powder while the comp keeps the barrel down for the second shot if needed. Another new longslide is our Longslide Hunter. This beauty is built in either 38 Super, 10mm or 45 ACP. Again with the 6” barrel it allows the cartridge to reach it’s potential and with the comp the recoil is tamed down to it’s minimum. These 2 new series are added to our Enforcer longslide which is a bit less flashy longslide that also comes in either of the 3 cartridges, the 38 Super, 10mm or 45 ACP. The last of the longslides is the most unique of the bunch. It is our Ultimate Hi Power and built on a Browning Hi Power and can be built on the customer’s gun or on ours. The slide is a total of 8” long with our own comp added. The gun is full engraved, has been milled for Novak night sights, has full custom grips made for it in the customer’s choice of materials. It has a custom commander style hammer, custom trigger, extended slide release and ambi safety. The new Ultimate Hi Power has been ramped and polished to feed any round and considerable work has been done to mating the barrel to the slide for the absolute most in accuracy. It is finished in our deluxe Black Chromex finish with the small parts in fire blue. A large amount of gun manufacturers are building full custom 1911s but our new Ultimate Hi Power is a one of a kind.

A few years back we had over 30 series of cowboy guns out and stayed busy building them for all the cowboy shooters. The sport has been dwindling down over the past couple of years and orders for cowboy guns have dropped off considerably. Recently I decided to bring some of them back. We have brought back our Doc Holliday Classic, our Tombstone Classic, the Texas Ranger Classic, the Trail Rider Classic and the Gambler’s Classic. Two of our cowboy series have stayed strong thru the years, those being the Wichita Classic and the El Diablo. We have recently added our new Outlaw Classic and it is doing extremely well. It looks like the cowboy spirit lives on.

We are now 4 months from our next HHC, Handgun Hunter’s Challenge. It is scheduled for September 29 thru October 3rd. The fall hunt is always a great hunt. The lodge holds 56 hunters and we usually fill it up. There are also 3 new suites for married couples. And another new addition may be ready for this fall’s hunt. We have about 25 people already signed up. This hunt promises to be as enjoyable as all the others. We will be hunting on about 15,000 areas of Tennessee hills and hollows. If you would like to join us, consider this my invitation for you to do so. If you like, grab a buddy or two, or your wife and a youngster and join us. Call Sandy at 931-979-4050 and sign up. Have a great time hunting with friends and fill up your freezer at the same time. And the price is about half of what the other preserves charge with no hidden costs. You can see more about the lodge where we hunt by going to www.wildernesshuntinglodge.com for more info. Join us. I guarantee you will enjoy it.

That’s it for this time. Until next month, take youngster or lady shooting and hunting. You will be introducing them to a lifetime sport and getting a hunting partner for life. And remember the ladies and youngsters are our future.
God bless,
Gary

E-Mail: gary@reedercustomguns.com

Reeder Custom Guns 2601 E. 7th Ave. Flagstaff, AZ 86004	Phone: 928-527-4100 928-526-3313 Fax: 928-527-0840 928-526-1287
The names Ruger, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Bisley and Vaquero are trademarks of the Sturm, Ruger Firearms Co. Inc.