It’s a RIA VRBP-100 with a 19 round stick mag with the +4 extension to make 23 round of 12 gauge in a bull pup shotgun that really shot quite well. Madpick went 3/3 shooting clays with it, beating my 2/3. Handles great, excellent balance, good mag availability/capacity and seems to run well even with birdshot.

Here it is at PSA for $479.99: https://palmettostatearmory.com/rock-is ... 100-a.html

Oops, wrong pic. I think what you’re referring to is the new Springfield PDW. More to come on that later...

Madpick’s ear pro:

Thank you so much for checking with them!
Oh, well...
Maybe Ruger will be interested in making R762.
Or, maybe I’ll build my own.
I don’t have ability to mold nylon frame, so it would be milled from aluminum or steel.

So yup, as you've already seen, today was "Industry Day at The Range," our one day of actual shooting. The rest of the week will be spent indoors, walking from booth to booth to booth . . . to booth. So this is the fun day!

We started the day at OnTarget; they have a cool system that senses your hits and then can do a million things with them, like analyzing the group, scoring you against a competitor, etc. They have a module that mounts directly to the back of an AR500 plate, and it can sense exactly where the bullet hits. And then, bring all of the data back to screens like these:



In the photo above, near the lower left corner you can see a steel plate lying on the table with a white target sticker on it. The module is stuck to the back of it, which is why it's raised off the table slightly. Right behind that steel plate is a brownish unit that holds and controls a pop-up target; it will communicate with other target holders, and you can program to behave however you'd like (one pop up after the other is hit, that kind of thing). Cooool stuff.

Another pic of the screens:



And Sinus211 giving the system a go:



Then we moved on to some big-ass rifles from [url=http://www.bishopammunition.com/Bishop Ammunition & Firearms[/url]. The two ladies were very friendly and helpful, and obviously knew their stuff. The rifles they brought were in .475 Bishop (hmm, see the connection?) and .458 SOCOM.

The rifle on the left is in .475 Bishop, and the two on the right are .458 SOCOM:



This one didn't make it into the earlier photo, but it's an AR-10 style rifle in .475 Bishop:



And that yellow chunk? That's insulation that fell from the ceiling from the massive muzzle blasts all around us.

Now to set the stage, when we arrived at this booth there was a gentleman who had just shot the .475 Bishop AR-10 . . . the lighter-recoiling of the two .475 rifles. And his nose was bleeding.

So Sinus211 stepped up and said, "let me shoot the worst one first." And here's the video of him with the bolt-action:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiPC-Mt8Po

I'd say that he, ah, absorbed that quite well.

I decided to try the lever-action .458 SOCOM, which is built on the Marlin 1895 platform:



Nice rifle, with a pleasing thump but it wasn't bad at all.

And here's Sinus211 trying out the AR-10 in .475 Bishop:



Next up, we stopped at Action Target. They showed us some cool stuff last year, and this year they had even more! See the bases and the target hangers in this photo, connected by a 2x4? This is all part of their new Legion target series.



All of that (except the 2x4) folds up into a nice small package that's easy to carry downrange. Carry it to where you want it, unfold the metal bits, add the 2x4 and you've got a good steel target all ready to go! All of the steel you see there is AR500, including the base and the target hanger. If you've ever been to the New Years shoot, you'll know why that's important.

Now . . . "I know a guy" who has an Action Target dueling tree. You can remove the paddles, but the rest of it is a big one-piece monstrosity that requires some serious manhandling to get in and out of the car, and my, err, his car gets dinged up in the process. So I, ah, he would be especially interested to see this new design:



The paddles can still be removed, but see the base? Yup, same base as used on the previous target. The vertical piece just slips in and out of the base, meaning that this would be super-easy to transport.

Here's the base by itself:



They demonstrated something else you can do with the dueling tree. Remove all but one paddle, add a target hanger to the assembly, and you've got a hostage target!



Going back to the 2x4 target, here's a view of a 3-target hanger. I should have taken a photo from above, but the targets have a T-shape at the top. For each target there are two slots, one long one in the rear and one shorter one in the front. Put the T up through the long slot, then pull it forward (there's an opening between the slots) and it will rest in the shorter slot. Pretty slick and easy.



Getting back to GUNZ, we went to the Ruger booth. Here's their new GP100 competition revolver in 9mm . . . which is either the coolest thing ever, or the ugliest thing ever. Or maybe both?



And of course, we had to check out the Ruger 57 (pronounced five-seven, by the way, not fifty-seven). Here it is below the Security-9:



Here's PMB giving the 57 a try:



And Sinus211:



The Ruger 57 was interesting. The shape of the grip (due to the cartridge) is rather long and thin, so it feels a little odd. But, it holds 21 rounds of a decent cartridge, and recoil is quite minimal. It was easy to shoot, for sure!

Oh, and there happened to be a Ruger AR-style pistol in .350 Legend there....



So Sinus211 gave it a try, with some coaching from PMB. The coaching mostly consisted of, "Make sure you don't shoulder the brace."



I didn't get any pictures, but we also shot the Ruger LCP II in .22LR. I talked shit about this pistol when it was first released, wondering what the purpose of it might be, and I wondered if I'd need to eat my words. Fortunately, I don't. I mean, it worked fine and it was fun to try, but at the end of the day it's too small to be a good range pistol, and the caliber isn't appropriate for a carry gun. If you're going to carry a gun that size, you might as well have it in .380. So, I'm not a big fan.

I also took a moment to shoot the single-action Ruger Wrangler:



We had a discussion on WaGuns a while back about Heritage Arms vs. Ruger. I shot the bronze-colored one in the photo above, and I'll tell ya, it was ROUGH. It took a lot of effort to pull the hammer back . . . I don't know why, but something wasn't right there. But it worked, and I was even able to ding the 100-yard steel a couple of times. I manipulated the silver one and it was definitely much better, but neither of them felt anything like my 30-year-old Single Six.

Then it was on to Kriss, a perennial favorite:



First up was Sinus211 and the new Kriss Vector in .22LR. Kobie from Kriss took one look at Mike and knew he was going to have problems, so he put a hand up to brace Mike's shoulder from the recoil:



Fortunately, it wasn't that bad and he handled it okay:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_wHILWBH8

Since he did so well there, Kobie felt comfortable letting him try the .45 in full auto:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPrWVNQwWL8

And then, believe it or not, he let PMB do it too! Now in this video, after he's done firing, give it a second and then watch the berm . . . you'll see the splashes in the sand, dancing around all over the place and then finishing right at the ridge.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvErTEtN1EU

And here's PMB shooting the .22 as well:





Then it was on to the ST Engineering display where they had two rifles, their SAR21 semi-auto 5.56 bullpup and their Ultimax 100 Mk8 5.56 machine gun:





Things started out well. Sinus211 didn't have any trouble handling the simpler of the two, the semi-auto:



And of course PMB did great. Note the integrated scope in the carry handle, very AUG-ish:



And PMB picked up the machine gun, no problem:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=six4D52G8CY

But Sinus211 required some additional explanation. Fortunately, the young Singaporean lady was there to tutor him and keep him safe:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHpoSIhSrlc

Then it was off to the Barnaul booth, where they had full-auto AKs and a full-auto PPS-43C! Sadly, the PPS wasn't working so we weren't able to try it.



You've already seen the video of the full-auto AK knocking my skull around. Here's the Sinus211 version of that:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSsJb1Epx9c

And PMB:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZXJdDrMRVk



Next up was Springfield, where they had the M1A Tanker (same as the M1A SOCOM but with a wood stock) and several rifle and pistol versions of the SAINT .308 (AR-10 style):



PMB gave the Saint rifle and the M1A a try:





Sinus211 tried the M1A:



I tried both the M1A and the SAINT pistol. Both were quite easy to shoot and to shoot well.

Springfield also had a couple of variants of their SAINT Edge 5.56 pistol, including a PDW version that was cool:



Here's PMB demonstrating them both:





And then we had to try the new Springfield Hellcat 9mm, of course. This is a competitor of the Sig Sauer P365. Here's Sinus211 shooting the optics-ready version:



And PMB shooting the version with iron sights:



All three of us shot both versions. I think we all shot better with the iron sights . . . but I think that's at least partly because we just aren't as accustomed to shooting pistols with dots.

Now back to the 5.7x28 cartridge . . . here's the Diamondback DBX, which takes FN FiveseveN magazines:



Here's PMB testing it out:



This is a super-skinny gun. With the folding brace and without a suppressor, this would be a very small package and it's pretty intriguing. On the downside, it feels fairly cheaply made . . . kinda plasticky, and its "bolt hold open" is the bolt slamming into the back of the mag. When you drop the mag, the bolt closes. For you AK people, it's like using a Yugo or Croatian BHO mag. Meh. It's going to be released on May 7th (5 . . . 7? Get it?). It will be offered in three variants; the cheaper one does not have a brace, and will have MSRP about $900. The one we shot is the middle version, and is about $1299. Then there's a higher-end version (I don't know what features it has) that will be more like $1600. It's a cool gun, but honestly I don't think it's THAT cool. I guess we'll have to see what happens once it's released.

We made our obligatory annual stop to try knife-throwing. As we do every year, we sucked. I sucked REALLY hard, and I'm hoping that Sinus211's phone falls into the toilet so he doesn't post the video. Here's a video of PMB (our champ for the year!), followed by Sinus211:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTl-eLiNe9Y


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfqHL_Omyzo

Our next stop was Heckler & Koch, where they were showcasing the new SP5 (aka MP5) and their 2020 version of the VP9. The new VP9 is optics-ready, and they have redesigned the magazine to hold 17 rounds instead of 15. They used the same mag body to do this, but made changes to the follower and spring.

Here's PMB showing them both off:





And Sinus211 with the VP9:



And the SP5. Now, I was instructed to capture all of this on video but I failed and only caught the last couple of rounds . . . but I will testify that the gun and the shooter both functioned correctly!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAMtJMlyaWo

Now for you AK lovers, here's something really cool: The Arsenal AK-20.



Yeah, at first glance it looks like an AK. But:

- There's a short section of rail on the rear trunnion that allows you to attach AR-style stocks
- It's built using an underfolder-style trunnion; where the underfolding stock would attach now provides a QD-style sling attach point on both sides
- The barrel and the gas block and both free-floated
- It's threaded and suppressor-capable
- It has a 3-way selector on the gas block. You can shoot supersonic, subsonic or closed. And, if the selector is too hot to touch, you can move it with the tip of a cartridge!

Here's Sinus211 shooting supersonic ammo:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq3HPEEj1o8

The Arsenal guy told me at this point, "When he shoots the subsonics, get it on video, get his face!" Sure enough:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmuvlS8Twg0

And then he tried the subsonics with the gas block closed, basically in bolt-action mode:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqp-npHjyHc

Mmmhmmm . . . that was very cool!

Then I saw a Holosun banner, and I was off . . . I wanted to check out the HS507K that I had seen rumored! And yep, it exists. Here it is on a Glock 48:





Some features:
- Same* footprint as the Shield RMSc and Sig RomeoZero.
- Side-loading CR1632 battery. You don't need to remove the sight to replace the battery.
- Long battery life . . . I think he said 20,000 hours.
- Same reticles as the HS507C. You can do a dot only, a circle only, or a circle/dot combination (my favorite).
- Auto-on and auto-off.

Now . . . see the asterisk in my comment about the footprint? There IS a difference. The Shield and Sig dots use four "posts"; the Holosun only uses the two front posts. The two rear posts need to be removed.

Remember my friend who has the big heavy dueling tree? Well, that same jackwagon sent his P365 slide off to get machined for the not-yet-to-market RomeoZero dot, and he had a RomeoZero on backorder. Then he heard about the HS507K, and canceled the RomeoZero backorder. And his slide looks like this:



See those four posts? Well, now he wants an HS507K, and those two rear posts need to be disappeared. He must be pissed.

Anyway, back to my story.

By this point, Sinus211 was feeling pretty frustrated, having been schooled by that Singaporean lady on how to handle firearms, and getting his brain tumbled about by that AK. So he thought he'd refresh a bit:



He also perhaps overcompensated a bit with the next gun we tried:



Yeah. Maybe a bit.

That's a Rock Island VRBP-100 12-gauge bullpup:



It was a pretty smooth shooter. Here's Sinus211 taking out a couple of clays with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA3r6dBH71M

And seeing Mike with that big magazine got me a little excited, so I got one of my own for my VR-80:



Well, mine is only 19 rounds . . . it doesn't have the cool 4-round extension that they had on the range toy. But it will do

And then, as usual we finished the day with a long-ass bus ride, followed by overeating:



Oh, and many hours of image and video editing and such . . . I think it's time for a beverage.

Oh, I almost forgot . . . we also stopped at Glock and shot the new Glock 44, their .22LR pistol.

My personal opinion: I like it. It's a full-size pistol (same dimensions as a Glock 19), but it's noticeable lighter because they've lightened the slide. It actually is a little snappy, which I thought was a good thing -- it's a "fun" amount of recoil.

I did push to see why we couldn't buy the gun with a threaded barrel, and didn't get an answer -- just that the threaded barrel is available separately, which kinda sucks.

But, I do like the gun and I will probably buy one.

Throwing a knife is not like throwing a ball. You don’t break your wrist when knife throwing. Generate speed with your forearm, keep your wrist locked, and Just let the knife slide out of your hand. It’s hard to learn not to break your wrist when all the throwing you have done your whole life required breaking your wrist. It requires iron willpower, grim determination, and a larger than average Johnson.

Nice recap of the day Steve, well done.

Might be a little bit of bias in that long post. You just wait until I get home and have a fully functional computer with which to post the truth!

This should be good!

Awesome write up

Thank you guys for being there and sharing all this. Totally makes the dues that Mike charges me worth it

You know they went up this year?

Diamondback had a 5.7 AR styled pistol. Did you see that?
If so, et us know what it' like,yo!

Looks like the weather wasn’t bad at all! How was the wind this year?