review

Danner Tachyon boot review

Posted on by Caleb

I’m addicted to lightweight boots. Last year at the Crimson Trace Midnight 3-Gun, I was wearing my usual boot of choice, the Nike Special Field boot. At the M3GI, I had the chance to meet the cool people from Danner, an Oregon based boot company that’s been in the business for over 100 years. Danner makes a lightweight boot with a similar design ethos to the SFB – the Danner boot is called the Tachyon. I was sent a pair of Sage Green Tachyons for T&E. To really evaluate the boots I wanted to wear them like I’d wear a trail running shoe.

danner tachyon

The first event I wore the Danners to was a September pheasant hunt in South Dakota. Despite stepping in several deep puddles in “warm” weather boots, my feet stayed nice and dry through the day. Because the boots hadn’t been properly broken in yet, I had some minor blistering, but nothing painful despite a solid 8 hours of trekking through dense cover shooting pheasants.

Up next was a total change in pace for the Danners, wearing them to the Inaugural IDPA BUG Nationals. Worn entirely on concrete floors, the Danners provided good traction for few stages that involved movement on what can be a dangerously slick surface. I wore the Danners for the better part of a week, and because they’d been broken in, had no issues with them.

After the BUG Match, I started wearing the Danners more and more as a regular shoe. They were comfortable, and in South Dakota during the winter had plenty of grip if the sidewalks weren’t salted as well as they should have been. The high-point for the Danners was when I wore them while filming a segment for Run2Gun TV, which involved doing burpees in four inches of snow. My feet stayed nice and dry during the filming. The same can’t be said for other parts of me, but at least my feet were dry.

The final test for the Danners came at the ultimate evaluation of shoe comfort: SHOT Show 2014. I wore my Danner Tachyon boots for the entirety of SHOT, starting on Monday at Media Day and all the way until I packed them up on Saturday to fly home. I logged an estimated 50 miles in the Danners over the course of SHOT, and my feet felt great. The same can’t be said for the editor of GunUp the Magazine, who ended up with a sprained ankle and badly injured feet. Next year she’ll wear Danners, I’ll bet.

If I had to find one negative thing to say about the Danner boots, it’s that they only offer them in a high-rise. My SFB are a mid-rise, and look like a high-top basketball shoe. They’re a little more covert than the Danner boots. But honestly, that’s it. The boots are great. They’re comfortable, high quality, and made in the USA. I had really grown to like my Danner Tachyon boots. If you’re looking for a lightweight boot that you can wear every day, I absolutely recommend the Tachyon.

And if the person who stole them out of my luggage reads this, I hope you get blisters and that the fleas of 1,000 camels infest in your armpits.

Beretta

Beretta enters the all-inclusive 3-Gun Market

Posted on by Caleb

Before this SHOT Show there was only one company in the firearms industry that made every gun you needed for 3-Gun: FNH USA. From FNH you could get a SCAR rifle, an FNS 9mm handgun, and your choice of 12 gauge shotguns. At the 2014 SHOT Show, Beretta announced two new guns that would allow them to become the second full-service 3-gun company in the market: the ARX-100 rifle and the Beretta 1301 shotgun.

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gun stuff/Shot Show/women

Don’t Tell Anybody, We’re Marketing to Women

Posted on by Gabby

20140122-121730.jpgThe big secret a SHOTShow 2014 was everyone’s interest in marketing to women. Actually, it wasn’t much of a secret. For the past three years, I’ve been writing about how pink guns will not be the end of it. However, what I found most interested, was the way many of the manufacturers would look around and then whisper to me, “we really want to market to women”, as if it were a racial slur or something.

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Sig Sauer

New Sig Sauer 556xi modular rifles

Posted on by Caleb

One of the neat guns we had the opportunity to shoot at SHOT Show was the new Sig556xi rifle platform. A big theme this year with Sig Sauer is the modularity game, and the SIG556xi steps that game up. The trick part of the rifle is that the upper is the serialized part, meaning that lowers can be switched out very easily to accommodate different calibers. We shot two versions at media day: a select fire model chambered in 7.62×39, and a semi-auto model in traditional 5.56 NATO. Both guns were very easy and fun to shoot, and the 7.62 model was easy to control on full-auto.

Caleb with SIG556xi

No word from Sig on when they’ll be available for dealers, and I’d suspect a retail price north of $1200. I’ll keep an eye on that, because it is an interesting rifle. The full press release from Sig follows below.

SIG SAUER® Raises the Bar with the SIG556xi®


NEWINGTON, N.H. (January 14, 2014) — SIG SAUER introduces the SIG556xi, rewriting the standard for modularity, reliability, and performance for the modern rifle platform.

Based on the legendary SG 550, the SIG556xi will change the way military, law enforcement, and responsible citizens look at adaptable rifles. Utilizing the time-tested rotating bolt and adjustable gas piston operating system, the SIG556xi allows operators a choice of caliber, barrel length, handguard/stock configurations and lower receivers.

SIG556xi_Carbon

“The SIG556xi has been designed to be the most modular and easily adaptable, hard-use rifle available,” said Jeff Creamer, SIG SAUER Director of Product Management. “From the furniture to caliber to barrel length to magazine preference, the SIG556xi can be completely changed over in minutes to suit the user’s needs.”

A removable barrel allows the operator to select the necessary length for a given mission. Adding the appropriate bolt, the SIG556xi can be changed to any of three calibers, 5.56x45mm NATO, 300 Blackout, and 7.62x39mm. Users can also quickly change out the non-serialized lower receiver, allowing the use of either AR-style STANAG magazines or rock-and-lock AK-style magazines. The SIG556xi upper receiver is the serialized part, making the lower an easy to purchase part.

SIG556xi_Russian-AK

Polymer handguards accept all Magpul® light and rail kits, while the aluminum and carbon fiber handguards accept 2”, 4”, and 6” M1913 rails. Barrels are available in 10”, 14.5”, and 16”. Truly ambidextrous, the SIG556xi features an ambi safety selector, magazine release and user swappable charging handle (right- or left-handed). Optional receiver end plates allow for the use of either AR receiver extension tubes and buttstocks or M1913 compatible stocks

Thanks to a redesigned trigger package, the military and law enforcement versions of the SIG556xi are capable of full-auto fire in every caliber, including 7.62x39mm. The Russian lower has been thoroughly function tested with many available AK magazines, including US P.A.L.M.

revolvers/Ruger/The Year of the Wheelgun

The Year of the Wheel: Ruger GP100 Match Champion Introduction

Posted on by Caleb

I’ve already spent some time covering the Ruger GP100 Match Champion. The day Ruger launched this gun, I contacted them about providing a couple of guns for a season long T&E project, to which they agreed. I was immediately interested in the Match Champion because it appears like Ruger raided my dreams for the perfect IDPA SSR gun to create this new revolver.

Ruger Match Champion

Today, the test guns showed up. Ruger provided these guns to shoot for the duration of my usual shooting season, which gets started in about a month at the 2014 IDPA Indoor Nationals. Here are the matches I’m currently planning on attending:

  • IDPA Indoor Nationals
  • 2014 NRA AP World Championship
  • 2014 Bianchi Cup
  • 2014 IDPA Nationals

I’m also planning on attending several other matches, but haven’t yet confirmed them. Those matches are:

  • The 2014 IRC
  • Steel Challenge
  • 2014 M3GI
  • Some state level IDPA matches

Yes, I do actually plan on shooting the GP100 Match Champion at a 3-Gun match. Mostly because I already have some sweet Crimson Trace lasers for it, and also because I think that shooting a wheelgun in the dark at a 3-gun match would be hilariously awesome. I don’t go to that match to win it, I go because it’s the most fun I can have in the dark with my pants on.

Ruger GP100 Match Champion

Those are the actual guns I received from Ruger. They have sequential serial numbers, which is pretty cool. I’ll test fire both guns for accuracy, and whichever is the most accurate will be the primary gun used for match use, the other will be used as a trainer/backup gun. Out of the box, both guns have better factory triggers than a stock GP100. The pull weight is fairly heavy, somewhere between 12 and 14 pounds, but it’s smooth with not grit or stacking.

The sights are Novak black rears with a huge fiber optic front. The front sight looks identical to the Novak front on my Colt CCG from last year’s test, and that has me wondering what size dovetail cuts they used for the sights on this gun. It’s not the same as the other adjustable sight Ruger GP100 I have, which uses Ruger’s easy-change front sight system. With big green dots like this front sight, I tend to get a little sloppy with my accuracy as I’ll just throw the dot on the target and go to work. That’s fine for wide open targets at 10 yards, but Bianchi Cup will require a little more precision and patience.

The big question is whether or not I’ll bob the hammers. The answer is probably yes, but that’s mostly because I like how bobbed hammer guns look better than guns with hammer spurs. I’m also planning on dropping in the excellent Wilson Combat Spring Kit, because I think that adding one of their lightweight springs to the already super clean action is going to make this trigger even better.

Testing will begin this week with each gun shot for group size and point of impact. Once that’s established, serious training will begin for Indoor Nationals. To follow future posts, just look for The Year of the Wheelgun tags on the site.

humor/Shot Show

Shot Show quick thoughts

Posted on by Caleb

Below are a series of one line thoughts I had while walking the aisles at SHOT Show. None of these are worth a post of their own, but together they present an inside look at my thought process while wandering around.

There are too many people here. – There were 67,000 people at the Show this year. That’s a lot.

Is that Steven Seagal? He’s so tan it looks like Steven Seagal in blackface.

Does it count as day drinking if it’s a bloody mary?

There’s a longer line to get a slice of pizza than there is to meet Ted Nugent. Must be good pizza.

Where the **** is the booth I’m looking for?

No, seriously where am I? Is the booth in Mordor?

How come you never see some members of the press on the show floor? All they do is hang out in the press room and do…I don’t even know.

That’s your actual marketing plan?

Oh yes, perfect. Stop walking in the middle of the aisle to gawk a booth babe. It’s not like people are trying to get somewhere.

If I set that rolly cart on fire, would you even notice?

Yes, I know the gun isn’t loaded. I still don’t want you to point it at me.

Seriously, please stop pointing guns at me.

So many tactical beards. It’s like I’m surrounded by hipster-operators: My ops are so black you’ve probably never heard of them.

I had a great time at SHOT this year. I didn’t get to see much product, as these days my time at SHOT Show is spent in booths having meetings with people. That being said, the people watching this year was AWESOME.

ERGO

New Product spotlight: ERGO Grips Delta revolver grip

Posted on by Caleb

Every year at SHOT, I’ll invariably be told by people that I have to see product X at some booth because it’s totally incredible and will melt my brain and change the way I think about something or another. That’s usually not the case, however at SHOT 2014 when I received a text from GunUp the Magazine’s managing editor Shelley Rae, I was quite interested in the product.

20140121-093853.jpg

Shelley had sent me a picture of the grip pictured above, the new Delta grip from ERGO. My first thought was “what in the actual…” because let’s be honest, it’s not going to win any beauty competitions. It looks like a big black potato has attached itself to that poor j-frame, and your initial impulse is to just laugh and walk away. That lasted right up until I picked it up and went “ohhhhh, that’s what they’re trying to do.”

The point of the Delta grip is that it changes the way you interact with the grips on your defensive revolver. Instead of a small grip with not a lot of purchase area, the Delta gives you a ton of grip surface for better control. It also positions your hand about as high on the backstrap as you can get it, which means better recoil control out of the small guns. You can use a proper thumbs forward grip with the Delta without risking burnination, because it moves your hands a little further back on the grip.

20140121-094335.jpg

My initial impressions are pretty good. Yes, it’s ugly. But I don’t carry a j-frame to impress people with how pretty my gun is, I carry it to shoot smelly badguys in the face in defense of my life. I’ve already requested a T&E unit from ERGO so we can get some serious trigger time on it and shake out if it really does offer improvements over a stock j-frame grip. I’m very interested to see how it performs in live fire. So far my interactions with the grip are all at SHOT Show, which is fine for establishing feel, hand position, and the other things I’ve mentioned already, but doesn’t really show me how it works when rounds are going off.

More to come on the new ERGO Delta revolver grip!