I am fresh back from the 2026 SHOT Show in Las Vegas and what a literal blast that show is! It is one of the largest trade shows in Vegas and they expected 77,000 people to pass through the convention halls at the Venetian and over a bridge into Caesar’s Palace. It just gets bigger every year.
Temperatures this year were sunny and in the 70s and 60s- and much better than back home, where it was -13 this morning with -23 wind chill.
Being a trade show, you can’t buy anything on site. Gun manufacturers and associated makers of every firearms related product you can imagine put all of their latest items on display hoping to get sales contracts and affiliations. For some it is a non-stop barrage of interest and questions. For some other booths it is a very quiet 4 days watching humanity pass by. I walked for about 10 hours in two days and saw about two thirds of it! That is a lot of walking.
Along with all the new guns and gear you can see and meet celebrities and other oddities at the show. I got to see my pal Ted Nugent which is always fun. Ted told me he had just received a fun new 10mm (his fave caliber). It is a lever action carbine from Marlin. (More on this later.)
I snapped a pic of author and former SEAL Jack Carr (the line to his book signing was about 50 yds long!).
That is a picture of my friend Carmen Lout at the top of the page. She is a USPSA and 3 Gun Competitor and a terrific ambassador for the shooting sports (yes I know she is behind the reversed SHOT sign- but makes you look doesn’t it- especially with Carmen in the picture.) She is pound for pound tough as nails and everyone who meets her loves her. You would too.
On Monday at the range day, I met a rich celebrity widow who owns her own gun company… very attractive package there- Mrs Katherin GLOCK. She could not have been nicer.
She was at the show the next day in front of the very extensive Glock booth- handing out catalogs and plastic tote bags and talking with anyone who wandered up! I was very impressed and talking to staffers they tell me she is very committed to promoting their products and is quite proud of the new Glock GEN 6 pistols, which were probably some of the top three products on display at the show.
Away from the show, Vegas always entertains and along the way I saw men dressed as women in public bathrooms-twice, saw bums fighting, three midgets dressed as a storm trooper, an Ewok and a Jawa, and two ranting crazy women (separate locations) who were shouting red faced and non-stop into the sky. You know…Vegas.
Sidenote here about the new John Wick Experience at Area 15. I had to do that one- a must for John Wick fans. You enter the Continental Hotel in groups of 10 and are told you are in big trouble helping John Wick. They shepherd you through to a meeting with the manager, and a cartography room and the telephone room (right out of the movie) where rolling panels reveal there is a bounty on your head. You meet with a smarmy card dealer who insults everyone, then finally to a meeting with the Sommelier (I announced “I’d like a tasting”) in a room plastered with TTI guns from the movies. Next you go into a shooting range and use laser guns on moving people targets while constantly being told you are in danger. I will leave off the rest, but it will get your blood pumping and was quite enjoyable. At one point I held off disarming a menacing bad guy in black leathers and motorcycle helmet- see the helmet limited his peripheral vision, added some carotid protection and I was considering just the groin strike or simple gun takeaway- then thought the waiver I signed might not cover injury to role players.
Back to the show. I think the biggest splashes came from the new Glock GEN 6 pistols, and the new Sig Sauer P211 GT4 GTO and GT5 GTO pistols. The sleeper hit was a rather plain and simple 2011 9mm high-capacity Kimber 2011 called the 1911 DS Warrior. It had a street price of about $1000- much lower than almost all other 2011 pistols on the market.
Last year 2011 pistols were all the rage at the SHOT Show along with lever action rifles. This year suppressers were everywhere; folding wrist brace Personal Defense Weapons (PDW) and compensated pistols rounded out the hot topics.
The Sig Sauer P365 and its variants seem to still be the #1 selling EDC pistol for about 5 years running.
One of the biggest hits last year at PSA was a copy of the SEAL favorite H+K MP-7 PDW called the X5-7 chambered in 5.57mm. You had to stand in line to touch it. This year it was still in the booth, still in production testing- and no one looked twice at it. Yesterday’s news, I guess.
Perennial favorite year after year at the show is the fold up ZEV Glock-ish pistol that opens from a tablet size block into a 9mm pistol with a stock or wrist brace. Mag-Pul had it many years ago and then ZEV bought it out. The problem was they would show it year after year for at least 8-10 years- but never sold any. People loved to see it and take pictures of this unicorn. Tuesday a staffer told me they were, finally, finally ready to start selling them. I was incredulous and said “Really?” and he acknowledged the feeling and said they should have shirts made up with all of the years crossed off when they were not available. Well, yesterday morning at 10 AM ZEV went live and sold their entire inventory out in 7 minutes.
Glock’s GEN 6 pistols came out in NOV/DEC of last year and are now ready for sale. They incorporate 9 upgrades to their corporate motto “Perfection.” I shot one on range day and was impressed with the improvements. The trigger (always a sore point for Glocks) was no longer gritty and the grip has a new palm swell that fits my hand better, as well as a molded in beavertail grip extension, factory undercut trigger and better stippling on the grip and side of the frame for your thumbs forward grip. Glock has also given up their proprietary optics cut MOS system for a new multi-platform compatible optics cut with multiple plates.
Glock fans and competitors have been making these aftermarket improvements themselves for years to make “Perfection” better. Well now Glock has caught up with many of the best improvements and will sell them for the same price as GEN 3 and GEN5 pistols. This is the gun Glock should have been selling for the last 10-15 years. It’s just better. I saw the GlockShop and Grabagun.com online today announcing they have them in stock for online sale (and ship to your local FFL) if you need to get one quickly.
Sig Sauer had a big promo booth pushing their new P211 GT4 GTO and GT5 GTO pistols in awesome looking packages with ambidextrous controls, flat trigger and of course cut for optics. After the year Sig has had with the social media condemnations of the P320 series it looks like they are moving ahead with this new package to pull in new buyers. Sig showed the P211 this past year as a modern twist on 1911 style double stack frames. They are currently 9mm only and all have compensators with a posted 30% reduction in muzzle rise. Dependability should be built in as these new guns use the proven Sig Sauer P320 magazines. A steel frame, flared magwell and straight pull 3.5 to 4 lb trigger give this gun a competition/combat slant. Capacity? They come with a 23 rd and a 21 rd magazine. The newest version, the P211 GT4 GTO features a 4.2” barrel, slide cut for optics and smaller magwell, and is being pushed as a concealed carry pistol with no compensator. The GT4 comes with two 21 rd mags and a 17 rd mag. The GT5 has the 5” barrel. MSRP is $2300.
Sig of course has a pistol brace PDW for the P365X with a polymer folder, blast shield, included red dot and light along with a 6” barrel. The brace has a forwarded mounted magwell where an inserted spare mag makes a forward grip. The Flux Tac Ops is offered in 9mm only. They offer a version for the P320 as well.
As stated above, I think the biggest sleeper hit of the show is the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior LW. It is a 2011 pistol of course in 9mm, but unlike most of last year’s SHOT Show models, this one is not clunky and adorned with ornate features. Instead, this Kimber is a full-sized pistol with a 4” or 5” barrel and no compensator. The slide is very smooth on the outside, cut for optics and double stacked of course with 17 round magazines. They will produce them in 10mm and .45 ACP soon. It does not feature a huge competition mag funnel or oversized sharp edges. Instead, this pistol is meant for everyday carry and coming in at right at $1000 it beats out almost every 2011 pistol on the market right now even the lesser known Girsan, Tisas, SDS Turkish made models.
The in-house premium grade Kimber 2K11 Pro, stainless steel, compensated 2011models are $2345 by comparison.
Here are some of the other notable items I saw, not in any alphabetical or orderly fashion- just as I encountered them wandering the many aisles.
Rock River Arms- Illinois based company with a reputation for accuracy and dependability, had a rifle on display which stopped me in my tracks. They had a 7.62 or .308 AR-10 style rifle mounted on a tripod alongside an actual target. The rifle is the Enhanced Operator LAR -BT3M, something they produce every day. The target featured a 3 hot overlapping group at 100 yds measuring .395 inches. Yes. Three .308 bullets into .395 inches. ‘Nuff said.
Strike Industries- PDW with folding wrist brace frames for Sig P365 and P320 pistols. Most interesting to me, is they have a version available very soon for the Ruger RXM and Taurus pistols as well as the Sigs. The frames are very light weight and include blast shields at the front end so you can shoot barrels from 3” to 6” mounted in the unit. The Delta fits P365 and Bravo fits P320s.
Palmetto State Armory (PSA) always has a booth full of new and interesting things. I am pretty sure they have mad scientists locked in a dungeon lab back home in the Carolinas. This year their big feature is the AXR AR style pistols with piston gassing, modular fire control and striker firing system, optics cuts and compensators offered in .300 Blackout.
Their biggest eyeful was a bolt action of .50 BMG which looks an awful lot like a Barrett .50. This is the Sabre Lancet which does in fact take Barrett mags (smart idea). Talking to the reps, they assure me it is awesome from end to end, but unfortunately development is taking a timeout right now due to ammunition costs. The price of .50 BMG is so high ($7 to $8 a round) PSA has had to stop barrel testing this gun to avoid passing on the cost of R&D to the consumers.
PSA also had their AXR Carbine Rifle on display with piston gas system in 5.56 and an AK style rifle the VUK556 based on their proven JAKL platform and chambered in 5.56 mm.
DPMS, long known as a rifle manufacturer, had their own 2011 pistol in the booth the Sable II. It holds 19 rds of 9mm.
Springfield Armory of course had their Prodigy 2011 style pistols which came out about 2 yrs back with some small changes in 4” and 5” bbls, MSRP $1883. They also featured their SMG style roller delayed PDW the Kuna which came out in 2025. The Croatian made Kuna has been well reviewed and remains a bargain price for such an item at $1173. Springfield had lots of variants for their Echelon and Hellcat series, but I can’t keep up with all the changes.
Canik has a pretty understated yet blockbuster of a pistol introduced at the show called the Prime Radian. It is built on their MC9 Prime micro compact pistol in conjunction with Radian makers of aftermarket parts, barrels and compensators.
This new pistol of course is optics cut with Night Fisson night sights, flat trigger and new infusion of Radian backstraps, magwell and the combo Ramjet barrel and Afterburner compensator into the platform. I happened to look at just getting the Radian Backstrap/magwell combo in the aftermarket and that was $159. Throwing in the barrel and compensator would cost another $400. So that is $559 worth of upgrades included in the MSRP for this Prime Radian at $849. Feature for feature you can’t beat the price for an ultra-modern EDC pistol MSRP $849.
European American Armory (EAA) of course had a version of a 2011 double stack 9mm on their Witness frame platform. The CMX is offered in 4.25” and a 5” bbl as well as a 3” Officers length model. They are not offered with a big clunky magwell, and carry 17 rds.
Smith and Wesson was a big splash I think 2 yrs ago, with the introduction of a lever action rifle. S&W had not produced a lever action since pre-1900. Last year they added a couple of calibers like .44 Mag and 30-30. This year they had a stainless-steel version of the 1854 lever gun chambered in .360 Buckhammer and .45-70.
S&W offers a folding pistol caliber carbine in 9mm, .45 ACP and 10 mm. New at this show was a version built in .22 LR. The whole thing is very compact when folded and the stock can store two extra magazines. It has no sights but has a long Picatinny rail just begging for a red dot or small scope. 16” barrel along with 20 rd mags MSRP $499.
I saw an enormous Trijicon red dot sight the size of two fists mounted on a M-2 Browning .50 machinegun. Definitely my favorite red dot of the show. Not real practical around the house, but way cool on a Ma Duece!
Taser- Yes, Taser company, had their Pule 2 Thors Hammer taser pistol which is legal in all 50 states. The “pistol” is pocket sized, bright yellow and has a stated range of 15 feet. They claim the electricity conveyed to a suspect will lock up all exo-skeletal muscles for at least 30 seconds. Make dandy internet videos for those FAFO folks too.
Girsan for some reason showed their new .380 medium sized pistol, the MC14T which has a tip up barrel ala the old Berettas! Not sure why they brought back the tip up design, but if you are a fan help yourself. Girsan also has excellent Hi-Power 9mm copies the MC-35 and showed off some gorgeous Hi-Powers in gold and silver satin finishes.
Sabre, known for tear gas going back to the 1960s had a .68 cal pistol which shoots pepper balls or “impact” balls for less lethal options. They told me best accuracy is about 60 ft but can go to 175. MSRP is about $400. Seems like fun now that riot and protest season is upon us.
Not everyone has bullet resistant panels and carriers at home but consider DFNDR Armor if you do. I hefted one of their Level III+ panels rated to stop 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm and some Chinese steel core ammo, and the panel only weighed 1.58 lbs. Body armor is rarely comfortable, but it can be comforting. I remember putting on armor for the first time back in Los Angeles in the late 1980s thinking “This is cool” followed by “Wait a minute! I’m putting this on because someone is likely to shoot me..” and “Hey! I’m a nice guy!”
Ruger has brought back a legacy model this year with a new Red Label III over/under shotgun in 20 ga. They discontinued the Red Label line years ago. The new one can be had with 28 or 30” bbls in a blued finish. Picking it up and handling it was very fulfilling. The gun is very lightweight and action was smooth- it would be fun to take this one afield and carry it for long periods of time. MSRP is $3299.
Ruger had a big booth with Marlin (who Ruger now owns) and pushed their RXM, a Glock 19 clone pistol like it was new- it came out early last year. It remains an outstanding alternative to real Glocks with many upgraded features and comes with Magpul magazines in 15+1 config and a 4.5 “bbl. New this year is a threaded bbl. MSRP is $599 but can be street priced at $360-$400 without the threaded barrel. Try “gun.deals” on the internet (no www or .com needed) to see supplier prices nationwide.
RXM company is selling a PDW pistol wrist brace for the tiny SIG, the P365 Reaper. The brace/frame are made of billet aluminum.
Last of all for the PDW wrist brace items, Midwest Industries has a wrist brace option for revolvers! They had some pretty cool models mounted on a variety of large revolvers. Screwing one on to a Colt Anaconda or Kodiak might turn those .44 mags into hunting grade rifles!
