The third day of SHOT Show 2022 is over, so here's yet another look at the Gun Digest team's highlights from the show floor.
The crowds on the third day of SHOT Show 2022 were even lighter than yesterday’s, rewarding those of us who persevered with more hands-on time with cool guns and gear and more time to speak with others in the industry. We got to try out the cutting edge of night vision at Sionyx and spoke with companies like PSA about some very cool things they have planned for the future. None of those things have photos to go with them, however, so here are our five highlights that do:
Century Arms Cugir Imports
Century Arms is the sole importer of weapons from the Cugir factory of Romania, which happens to be my favorite type of Kalash currently available in the U.S. The standard AKM pattern rifle, the WASR-10, has been a steady and consistent import for decades, but some of Cugir’s other guns only come in on occasion. For example, the very popular Cugir-made “Draco” AK pistol hadn’t been imported for what was probably over a year, causing their value on the used market to spike. Thankfully, Century has just confirmed that not only are more Dracos coming in, but some other very desirable and less common Cugir imports are as well.
WASR-UF rifles will be hitting our shores very soon, and AES-10B rifles will follow later this year. The “UF” in WASR-UF stands for “under-folder” if you couldn’t guess, and the AES-10B is essentially just a semi-auto Romanian RPK. Previously imported, both rifles already have established reputations and will be as solid as the standard and well-proven WASR-10. It’s very exciting that we will be able to find these interesting, military-quality AKs on store shelves once again.
Crimson Trace Optics
Crimson Trace has always been known for their laser-aiming devices, as their name suggests, but the company has just revealed a massive expansion into optics of all sorts. Besides fifty new magnified riflescopes, Crimson Trace has also introduced ten new electronic red dots along with some other useful gadgets. The new red dots will be called the RAD (Rapid Aiming Dot) series and will include four micro models for CCW pistols, four full-size models for larger handguns and two “RAD MAX” models for long guns.
Crimson Trace also made an angled foregrip and flashlight combo device that features rechargeable, quick-swappable batteries. They call it the RIG and it will be available soon as well.
Uintah Precision Muzzleloader AR Upper
Uintah Precision is mostly known for their bolt-action AR uppers, but at SHOT 2022 they decided to show off a prototype of something even more retro. It’s a muzzleloader AR upper that will supposedly be very affordable once released, and capable of being slapped onto any regular AR lower. It essentially will work by having a nipple for a primer at the back of the chamber, firing when the hammer is dropped just as it normally would, only now loaded through the muzzle.
FB Radom GROT
In America, FB Radom has most recently been known as the producers of some of the best quality AK rifles that are currently imported. While true, the Polish military has actually been phasing their Kalashnikov-pattern guns out of service for quite some time, replacing them with their domestically designed and produced GROT rifles. These are pretty standard modern 5.56 military service rifles, but more imports of this style are always better. The examples that FB brought out to the show are the first GROT rifles I am aware of existing in the country, so hopefully that means they will be available soon.
Girsan Modernized Hi Powers
We really seem to be living through the rebirth of the Hi Power right now, and it's a wonderful thing to see. Springfield has released their new American-made SA-35 clone, FN just announced their updated High Power, and now Girsan of Turkey has teased their own modernized versions of Browning’s iconic double-stack too. On the show floor today they had examples with extended beavertails, accessory rails and more, and supposedly even an optics-ready version is on the way as well.
More SHOT Show Coverage:
- SHOT Show 2022 Industry Day At The Range Highlights
- SHOT Show 2022 Day 1 Roundup
- SHOT Show 2022 Day 2 Roundup
- SHOT Show 2022 Day 4 Roundup
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