SHOT SHOW 2016, PART 3

Rifles: One rifle now getting a good bit of attention here is the Howa “mini-rifle” newly chambered for the 6.5 Grendel cartridge, and for 7.62X39. It should be available in these calibers later this year. The short action and 20” tapered sporter barrel bring it in under six pounds unloaded, sans optical sights. Many are reporting the action to be extremely smooth.

Shotguns: Benelli is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their excellent Black Eagle semiautomatic sporting shotgun. It’s gone through some permutations in that quarter century and now sports a quintessentially modern European styling, with the same rugged reliability as the one I won many years ago at a match. I was no longer into bird hunting and sold it to someone with more need for it, but miss it still. Franchi introduces a line for small statured folks (they’re pushing it for female shooters, a growing gun demographic) called the Catalyst. The Affinity Catalyst is an autoloader, and the Instinct Catalyst, an over/under.  On the economy side, the new Stoeger P3000 has that distinctive “Euro” look much like the Benelli, but is a slide action with manufacturer suggested retail price of only $299.

Handguns: The new Kimber revolver that’s getting so much attention has apparently had design input from wheelgun guru Grant Cunningham, which to my mind is reason enough all by itself to check one out.  SIG is showing competition versions of their striker-fired P320, and also, their long-promised variant with the manual safety is apparently at last available.  Both seem to be getting big thumbs up from SIG fans visiting the booth.

Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to alert you to the fact that one of my favorite clothiers, 5.11, has just introduced…Tactical Yoga Pants.

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