Just Guns

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I went to the NRA gun show in Dallas for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday. We made and 1.5 hour drive there and back both days just to go. The show was AMAZING! I got to touch and play with so many guns, suppressors and gear. I seriously wish I could’ve gone all three days.

Because we only had a couple of hours each day to go, I didn’t take many pics and was frantically running around trying to see as many booths as I could.


So my general thoughts of the following products are below.

STI 2011 pistols- The high end race 2011’s from them are incredible. One of the finest guns I’ve ever held in my hand. The triggers were unbelievably good. Their mid-tier stuff is nice as well. Their lower tier guns are not worth what they charge.

Pulsar thermal night vision scopes- Are incredibly light weight now and awesome! Can’t wait to own one…one day. I was blown away by these scopes and the picture in picture (allows you to zoom in for your first shot and then use the larger picture to take follow up shots on pigs as they run).

Trijicon Thermal night vision scopes- Heavier than Pulsar but they feel like they can take a hit and keep going. However…one of the scopes had screen burn from being on too long. I looked through it and the image of the buildings purlins were stuck on the screen lol

Rugged Suppressors- I liked them overall. The mounting system is good but not DeadAir good.

Salient Glocks- The Salient pistol triggers are trash (John Wick 2 pistol). I can’t believe how bad they are…makes me doubt everyone on youtube who says they are great. The slide cut serrations are so sharp they cut your fingers… These pistols are not worth what they charge.

OSS Suppressors- Are now lighter than the old ones but still too complicated for my taste…At least they are reasonably priced now.

Benchmade Knives- I got my Benchmade knife sharpened for free but they used some other knife sharpening company to sharpen my knife and not a Benchmade employee which kinda pissed me off. I didn’t have time to play with any of their knives due to the amount of people at their booth.

H&K booth- I swung by and played with the new striker fired VP7. The trigger sucked and the layout of the controls is goofy. They have a looonnggg slide release bar on the right side of the gun which is just stupid. I can see that getting hung up on someone’s holster.

Pelican Booth- Stopped by and talked with their guy for 10 minutes (which is a long time at these shows). Got some good info on upcoming products, gave the guy some good feedback on the soft coolers, pelican luggage and swapped stories. He gave my buddy and I free Pelican flashlights. J We got to hold the new Pelican Air line (light weight) and those cases are WORTH the money. They are crazy strong and lightweight. HOWEVER, Pelican is releasing a new cheaper line called “VAULT” which is similar to their other products but at a cheaper price point. I was not impressed with them at all and advise you to stay away from them. I understand why Pelican is doing this but think it will hurt their reputation in the long run.

Smith & Wesson- Stopped by just to play with the new 2.0 9mm Core pistol (I think that’s the name). It wasn’t as good as I was hoping. I like my Glock better.

Volquartzon- Amazing .22 pistol stuff. Can’t go wrong buying stuff from them. Their Carbon Fiber barrels are amazing. They have one of the best pistol grips I’ve ever held. Fit my hand like a glove.

SilencerShop- I spoke with these guys for 10 mins (again, that’s a long time at these shows). I was able to confirm in person that the SilencerCo Omega is not the right can for me. For field use and hunting, the Omega is great. But for full auto, Carbine classes or a lot of precision shooting will actually make the epoxy that’s holding the can’s ends together release. Also the heat generated overtime will cause the outer shell of the can to crack. The rep looked very hesitant to say anything bad about them as they had just gotten SilencerCo retailer status back. I got to hold the Sandman S and the L version. They are heavier than I imagined but seem like a well-built stout can. I will be buying the L version since it’s an 1.5” longer and has better suppression numbers. I thought there would be a bigger difference in length & weight between the two but holding them side by side there’s not much difference.

CZ- Stopped by and held some of their pistols. Sadly, was not impressed. All of them weighed way too much, the triggers were gritty and the slide action was meh. I was seriously disappointed in them and have pulled them off my “Gun Wish List”.

Desert Tech- I got to hold the new Desert Tech MDR!!!!......and was not impressed at all. SO FREAKING PISSED. Man, we were let down. The trigger sucked, it was so freaking heavy and the bolt release was goofy. My buddy has been wanting to buy one since their press release a few years ago on this rifle. It’s nice that it’s small and compact but there’s so much weight too it. We’re guessing it’s because all of the internals are beefed up to handle the .308 conversion kit. The MDR can be swapped from 5.56 to .308 in like a minute with some tools and parts. We’re hoping Desert Tech releases a lighterweight 5.56 version that can’t be swapped over to .308 (something that I don’t need or want). HOWEVER, I got to hold their bullpup bolt action rifles and they are as good as I was hoping. The trigger is amazing, the bolt throw is smooth and while it is a heavy gun it feels balanced.

F1 firearms- Their AR coatings are amazing! I wasn’t impressed with their AR’s overall.

JP Enterprises- Stopped by and played with their new PCC rifles. Love em! Wish I had a need to buy one lol Also go to feel their new drop in triggers and they are just as good as the old triggers.

Magpul- Stopped by and played with the new Magpul bipod. It sucks sadly…too much play, the legs fall down too easy (I can see them falling down in the field). It feels like a first gen product that needs to have issues worked out. Also played with their new precision stock. I liked it, it had everything I needed and wanted but my buddy wasn’t too impressed.

NightHawk- 1911’s and 2011’s were nice but not STI nice.

Hudson- Held their new pistol. The trigger is weird since they have an inverted safety blade on the trigger. This is another guy that is overhyped by the media.

KRISS- Played with the Kriss Vector. For a full auto gun I'm sure it's awesome but for a semi-auto it's a gimmick. Only Kriss gunsmiths will work on them which is $$$. Also, the controls for the mag release, bolt catch/release are all by your support hand which makes it easy to accidentally hit one of those buttons.

PROOF- We stopped by a vendor that had Proof Research barrels. They are so sexy looking but they are pretty heavy despite have carbon fiber shells with a thinner inner stainless barrel.

Nightforce- Got to play with the Nightforce BEAST. I'll never be able to afford it or need it but that is a badass scope!

Again, sorry I didn’t get any pics. But at the next show, I will be staying all day and taking lots of pics.

If you have ANY questions or want me to expand on something above, let me know. I was just quickly typing out my thoughts so please excuse any typo's or grammatical errors.

Only pic I took lol
20180506_153918.jpg
 
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tx_shooter

You ever try to roughie a bear?
Staff member
Thanks for the feedback from the show. The only pic you took is still a pretty awsome pic. Sadly I agree that the lower end STI pistols are not worth the name and people are just buying a name.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Went to the Tiger Valley match this weekend. It was amazing and I highly recommend just showing up and shooting whatcha got. We got 7th place out of 9 teams. We were running middle of the pack in terms of scoring for most of the event but had two bad stages which dropped us down a couple of ranks. I didn’t take a lot of pics because with all my gear on, I didn’t have any pockets to hold my phone in so it stayed in my bag a lot.


We did everything from crawl in the mud, run & gun from 400 yards up to 200 yards and shooting 400 yards from a tower, to shooting a SAW machine gun from an old Huey helicopter frame on springs. It was such a fun weekend.


However, the match was humbling because I need to get better at pistol speed shooting. I suck at it bad especially when you need to get A zones hit on targets in less than a minute. Also it pointed out some flaws in the gear I’m running so I’ve already made changes to that (thankfully there wasn’t too many issues). This match really makes me want to build an SBR as my 18” barrel was more of a hindrance than a plus.


Can’t wait to go to the match in November.


20180505_111708.jpg

Not my guns or gear in this pic. VVV
20180505_101833.jpg

20180504_174930.jpg
 
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tx_shooter

You ever try to roughie a bear?
Staff member
I did a few weekend shoots there years ago. It is pretty nice to see what it has grown into. It does look like a mudfest which sucks for busting rust off the guns.
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
I went to the NRA gun show in Dallas for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday. We made and 1.5 hour drive there and back both days just to go. The show was AMAZING! I got to touch and play with so many guns, suppressors and gear. I seriously wish I could’ve gone all three days.

Because we only had a couple of hours each day to go, I didn’t take many pics and was frantically running around trying to see as many booths as I could.


So my general thoughts of the following products are below.

STI 2011 pistols- The high end race 2011’s from them are incredible. One of the finest guns I’ve ever held in my hand. The triggers were unbelievably good. Their mid-tier stuff is nice as well. Their lower tier guns are not worth what they charge.

Pulsar thermal night vision scopes- Are incredibly light weight now and awesome! Can’t wait to own one…one day. I was blown away by these scopes and the picture in picture (allows you to zoom in for your first shot and then use the larger picture to take follow up shots on pigs as they run).

Trijicon Thermal night vision scopes- Heavier than Pulsar but they feel like they can take a hit and keep going. However…one of the scopes had screen burn from being on too long. I looked through it and the image of the buildings purlins were stuck on the screen lol

Rugged Suppressors- I liked them overall. The mounting system is good but not DeadAir good.

Salient Glocks- The Salient pistol triggers are trash (John Wick 2 pistol). I can’t believe how bad they are…makes me doubt everyone on youtube who says they are great. The slide cut serrations are so sharp they cut your fingers… These pistols are not worth what they charge.

OSS Suppressors- Are now lighter than the old ones but still too complicated for my taste…At least they are reasonably priced now.

Benchmade Knives- I got my Benchmade knife sharpened for free but they used some other knife sharpening company to sharpend my knife and not a Benchmade employee which kinda pissed me off. I didn’t have time to play with any of their knives due to the amount of people at their booth.

H&K booth- I swung by and played with the new striker fired VP7. The trigger sucked and the layout of the controls is goofy. They have a looonnggg slide release bar on the right side of the gun which is just stupid. I can see that getting hung up on someone’s holster.

Pelican Booth- Stopped by and talked with their guy for 10 minutes (which is a long time at these shows). Got some good info on upcoming products, gave the guy some good feedback on the soft coolers, pelican luggage and swapped stories. He gave my buddy and I free Pelican flashlights. J We got to hold the new Pelican Air line (light weight) and those cases are WORTH the money. They are crazy strong and lightweight. HOWEVER, Pelican is releasing a new cheaper line called “VAULT” which is similar to their other products but at a cheaper price point. I was not impressed with them at all and advise you to stay away from them. I understand why Pelican is doing this but think it will hurt their reputation in the long run.

Smith & Wesson- Stopped by just to play with the new 2.0 9mm Core pistol (I think that’s the name). It wasn’t as good as I was hoping. I like my Glock better.

Volquartzon- Amazing .22 pistol stuff. Can’t go wrong buying stuff from them. Their Carbon Fiber barrels are amazing. They have one of the best pistol grips I’ve ever held. Fit my hand like a glove.

SilencerShop- I spoke with these guys for 10 mins (again, that’s a long time at these shows). I was able to confirm in person that the SilencerCo Omega is not the right can for me. For field use and hunting, the Omega is great. But for full auto, Carbine classes or a lot of precision shooting will actually make the epoxy that’s holding the can’s ends together release. Also the heat generated overtime will cause the outer shell of the can to crack. The rep looked very hesitant to say anything bad about them as they had just gotten SilencerCo retailer status back. I got to hold the Sandman S and the L version. They are heavier than I imagined but seem like a well-built stout can. I will be buying the L version since it’s an 1.5” longer and has better suppression numbers. I thought there would be a bigger difference in length & weight between the two there’s not much difference.

CZ- Stopped by and held some of their pistols. Sadly, was not impressed. All of them weighed way too much, the triggers were gritty and the slide action was meh. I was seriously disappointed in them and have pulled them off my “Gun Wish List”.

Desert Tech- I got to hold the new Desert Tech MDR!!!!......and was not impressed at all. SO FREAKING PISSED. Man, we were let down. The trigger sucked, it was so freaking heavy and the bolt release was goofy. My buddy has been wanting to buy one since their press release a few years ago on this rifle. It’s nice that it’s small and compact but there’s so much weight too it. We’re guessing it’s because all of the internals are beefed up to handle the .308 conversion kit. The MDR can be swapped from 5.56 to .308 in like a minute with some tools and parts. We’re hoping Desert Tech releases a lighterweight 5.56 version that can’t be swapped over to .308 (something that I don’t need or want). HOWEVER, I got to hold their bullpup bolt action rifles and they are as good as I was hoping. The trigger is amazing, the bolt throw is smooth and while it is a heavy gun it feels balanced.

F1 firearms- Their AR coating are amazing! I wasn’t impressed with their AR’s overall.

JP Enterprises- Stopped by and played with their new PCC rifles. Love em! Wish I had a need to buy one lol Also go to feel their new drop in triggers and they are just as good as the old triggers.

Magpul- Stopped by and played with the new Magpul bipod. It sucks sadly…too much play, the legs fall down too easy (I can see them falling down in the field). It feels like a first gen product that needs to have issues worked out. Also played with their new precision stock. I liked it, it had everything I needed and wanted but my buddy wasn’t too impressed.

NightHawk- 1911’s and 2011’s were nice but not STI nice.

Hudson- Held their new pistol. The trigger is weird since they have an inverted safety blade on the trigger. This is another guy that is overhyped by the media.


Again, sorry I didn’t get any pics. But at the next show, I will be staying all day and taking lots of pics.
Only pic I took lol
View attachment 9751

Pics are evidence for liberal lawyers
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I did a few weekend shoots there years ago. It is pretty nice to see what it has grown into. It does look like a mudfest which sucks for busting rust off the guns.
It rained just enough on Friday to get everything soggy and muddy lol

Their ranges are sooooo nice. I can't wait to go take some classes.
 
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Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member

balakay

BabyMax
Looking for suggestions on brands/models of safes. I'm looking for something in the 16-20 gun range, fire rated, and if it has provisions included to be anchored to the slab, that would be a huge plus. I've seen options from $300-1500. I'm sure some of it is paying for a name but I'm assuming for the most part, you get what you pay for. Especially when it comes to the fire rating. That being said, $1500 is out of the budget. If I can get something around $600 I'd be happy but if it's going to cost a little more for a big jump in quality, I can keep saving my pennies for a bit before buying one .
 

balakay

BabyMax
Get the biggest one you can afford

I don't have room for the biggest one I can afford. I'm just looking for something to get me through my first house. I'm not going to be there forever and can get a big one next time. I really only need to keep a few guns in it. Any overflow can be stored in the monster safe at my parents house just a couple miles away. I figure a 16-20 gun will give my plenty of room for my 5-6 guns, ammo, personal documents, etc.
 

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
I have a Sentry and have been very pleased with it. I had mostly the same criteria, except I wanted to ensure that I got one with a combination lock. At the time, most of the electronic ones (at least the ones I saw) had a keyhole behind the digital pad. I didn't like that. I've moved 5 times since owning it....not a joy to move, but it has held up.

During one of the first moves, we used a buddy's F150 with a metal bed. We used an appliance dolly. Since it was so heavy, we decided to leave it on the dolly in the bed of the truck and just drive slow (we were pretty young). He took a turn too sharp and gravity + momentum kicked in. He had one flat wheel well after that. No indication of impact seen on the safe.
 

MatthewMay1

amateur professional
I don't have room for the biggest one I can afford. I'm just looking for something to get me through my first house. I'm not going to be there forever and can get a big one next time. I really only need to keep a few guns in it. Any overflow can be stored in the monster safe at my parents house just a couple miles away. I figure a 16-20 gun will give my plenty of room for my 5-6 guns, ammo, personal documents, etc.
Ah, fair enough. We made the mistake of getting one that would fit perfectly inside a closet and have outgrown it by at least double
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
I don't have room for the biggest one I can afford. I'm just looking for something to get me through my first house. I'm not going to be there forever and can get a big one next time. I really only need to keep a few guns in it. Any overflow can be stored in the monster safe at my parents house just a couple miles away. I figure a 16-20 gun will give my plenty of room for my 5-6 guns, ammo, personal documents, etc.

Fire rating is based off the amount of sheet rock layers inside the safe. If you put your safe in closet, you can add externally or if you want safe in the living room buy bigger and add sheetrock to the interior of the safe.

Tractor Supply always has sales on Cannon Safes, if I decide to buy one for my slingshots, it would be a Liberty Safe:rolleyes:
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
So I missed out on a helluva sale this memorial day weekend. I'm still kinda pissed about it. I could've gotten three Dead Air Sandman suppressors for the price of one suppressor...needless to say it sold out pretty quick.

So instead I found a Dead Air Sandman S and Dead Air Mask on sale for the price of one suppressor and ordered it. :) I plan on filing my SBR stamps for my two AR's as well at the same time.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Finally found a Radian Arms suppressor charging handle in stock and on sale! These have been hard to find in stock.

Also got a 9.7" SLR Rifleworks Ion Ultralight MLOK rail on sale for my eventual SBR builds.

20180529_165146.jpg
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Went to my gunclub range last night. Had the whole range to ourselves for an hour which was great. Finally got to group my buddies Rainier Arms 10.5" .223 Wylde barrel. This barrel is awesome! Especially for how short it is.

He was shooting ~1/2 MOA at a 100 yards with a tactical scope (meant for fast shooting. Not precision shooting). We feel we can get better results with a precision reticle and we might put his Khales on this AR in the future to see what this barrel can really do.

This is with 55gr .223 Wolf Gold IIRC. Right around ~3/4" MOA.
20180530_200057.jpg


These next two groupings were with 77gr .223 Black Hills ammo. Roughly ~1/2-5/8" MOA.
20180530_200110.jpg

20180530_200126.jpg


This is the AR pistol that shot these groups. I love it and it shoots so soft for how compact it is.
IMG950813.jpg
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Awhile back I order a Jagerwerks guide rod and an IMI 13# recoil spring for my G34. Finally got it installed and was shooting it last night. It made all the difference in terms of felt recoil. I had zero issues and the bolt locked open on an empty mag everytime. It made follow up shots quicker as well.

Stock Glock dual recoil spring is 18# which is overpowered IMO. This is a great, inexpensive mod for a G17/G34 or any other full size pistol frame. But I would stick with the dual recoil spring for shorter slides like the G19 or G43.

I don't have any pics of it at this time.
 
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