Meet my new friend, Kristen. She’s the brains behind Packin’ Neat.

What do you do when you’re a hard working nurse practitioner mother and wife, your husband is in law enforcement? Imagine, you’ve got 6 kids, and just don’t have the time to find a holster that will work with the scrubs you have to wear every day or any other outfit? With no business background, Mike and Tessa Renaud created Lethal Lace to solve that issue!

Many women say that most of the EDC pocketbooks look outdated and are impractical. Gun Tote’N Mama’s founder Claudie Chisholm is changing the EDC accessory marketplace for women.

The theme for this year’s SHOT Show 2018 (for this writer, at least) was the focus on the female shooter. Not surprisingly, there were more female-centered booths this year than any other year in SHOT Show history. One such booth was the Girls With Guns (GWG) booth.

In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 and check out the Velocity Systems booth.

In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 at the Surefire booth.

When BulletSafe first launched it’s sub-$300 Level IIIA bullet proof vest several years ago, I was completely onboard. In fact, we’ve carried the BulletSafe line in our store for years.

There were a wide variety of new AR-15 parts and accessories at SHOT this year. One manufacturer who always seems to have something new in AR-15 accessories is Strike Industries (SI). The guys at SI gave TFB a look at some of the new parts and accessories they’re bringing to market this year.

With the launch of so many new AR15/AR10/PCC firearms and accessories at SHOT Show this year, there’s one company introducing a new accessory that would be easy to overlook…

In the Legacy Sports International booth at the 2018 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range, Australian company Lithgow Arms brought out their precision rifle series dark horse, the LA105 Woomera. Based on the excellent Lithgow LA102 bolt action rifle platform, the LA105 features a custom American chassis from Kinetic Research Group. With a polymer exterior, the rifle combines the rigidity of an aluminum chassis with the good thermal characteristics of a polymer stock (read: your skin doesn’t stick to it in cold weather).

Building on the success of the MAWL DA, B.E. Meyers shows us the new and enhanced MAWL C1+ at SHOT Show 2018.

TFBTV’s Corey Wardrop certifiably geeks out over emergent technology with Cheston at Phone Skope. Unlike previous offerings from the company, which primarily consisted of phone attachments to spotting scopes, Skoped Vision attaches directly to (and in a way – in between) a rifle scope.

TFBTV’s Corey Wardrop discusses new ballistic shields with Josh at Angel Armor.

At a time when some manufacturers are creating cheaper “throw-away” pistols and rifles, one company happily creates a 1911 with an $85,000 pricetag.

At the 2018 SHOT Show, Geissele Automatics made fans very happy by bringing out 3 new and much-asked for products. First, the company released its new Remington 700 trigger line, which consists of a single SKU adjusted from the factory to two models: Single stage and two stage. The Geissele R700 trigger is three-way adjustable for pull, overtravel, and number of stages. As configured in the two stage mode at Industry Day at the Range, the R700 trigger is virtually identical to the Geissele SSA-E AR-15 trigger. In single stage mode, it is most similar to Geissele’s SSP single-stage version of the SSA-E, revealed at last year’s SHOT Show.

At the 2018 SHOT Show, Nightforce brought along their brand new 1-8 power scopes, including the much-anticipated NX8 1-8 power compact carbine optic. Alongside it, the company also debuted the ATACR 1-8×24, a larger, more capable one-to-eight that is better suited to distance shots.

What did we see at Range Day? Valkyries, Valkyries everywhere. Federal’s pint-sized long distance runner has already outstripped the market purchase of its direct competitors in the high performance AR-15 market, testified to by the sheer number of .224 Valkyrie rifles peppered across the booths and stalls of Range Day ’18.

Next week, I’ll be attending SHOT Show in Las Vegas for the first time. I’ve read about it, my husband has been several times, but this will be my first experience…and I get to do it as MEDIA! Honestly, I’m as giddy as a schoolgirl!

Let me start off by saying that this subjective list of TFB’s ‘Top 5’ best guns from 2017 is not rooted in scientific study nor is it the result of massive data crunching of user polls. The below guns were picked by general popularity, page views, innovative designs and overall accessibility. Point being, there were a lot of awesome firearms released this year and these are only a few of them.

Next up for  the Big Freakin’ Cartridge Test is Korean manufacturer PMC’s clone of M193 Ball, called XP193. This ammunition features very uniform-looking external dimensions, attractively finished brass cases and projectile jackets, and a reasonable price. Interestingly, XP193 appears to use a lower drag 55gr bullet, possibly based on the Sierra 55gr, instead of the somewhat draggier Remington-style projectiles used by Federal, IMI, and others for their M193 clones. I like to use XP193 when I need full-power ammunition without spending too much. The test procedure was as follows:

The day many tactical optic enthusiasts have been whispering about over the past year is finally here: Nightforce has just announced their long-rumored 1-8 power tactical scope, called the NX8. Nighforce describes the NX8 1-8×24 F1 as “a class leading, compact and lightweight riflescope optimized for short to mid-range shooting“. The company also released a full spec sheet, replicated below:

Product Release

Together with the previously-described SMT9 (9x19mm) and SMT40 (.40 S&W) submachine guns, Forjas Taurus also created more compact versions of both, a really simple affair involving the use of a shorter (165mm instead of 200mm) barrel, with no flash hider, fitted to very same weapon body. The stockless guns, designated SMT9C and SMT40C, had an overall length of 410mm, empty weight being 2.6kg. All basic features were maintained, such as the firing modes (semi-auto, full-auto, and 2-round bursts), sight radius, Picattiny rails, etc. They were ready by 2011

Tactical flashlights worn on the wrist, known as wristlights by SureFire, have continued to develop since TFB first reported on them in 2013. At that time, the adornment was little more than a flashlight with a max output of 180 lumens with a steep initial price of $495. That particular light-only variant evolved significantly in both quality and consumer price – now seen on SureFire’s website for $169.

Following the collaborative program with Chile’s FAMAE – Fábricas y Maestranzas del Ejército covering the manufacture and sales of the MT40/MT9 submachine guns and the CT40 carbine in Brazil, Forjas Taurus was still to try an additional – and final – venture with that State-owned company. The resulting weapon was another direct descendant of the Swiss SG 540/542/543 family of military rifles, whose full design and production technical material, plus machinery and tooling, were available to the Chileans. It was just a matter of (short) time until they came out with a semi-auto carbine chambered to the .30M1 round (7.62x33mm), a weapon that appeared to adequately fit the requirements of some Brazilian LE agencies seriously considering the use of that intermediate cartridge at that time.

My previous ( http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/11/06/imbels-ia2-based-subgun-carbine-prototypes/) mention of some submachine guns and pistol-caliber carbines that have emerged from Forjas Taurus in recent years generated a number of requests to elaborate more on the subject. Here it goes:

When the subject is the future of infantry, the conversation inevitably turns to one thing: Powered, armored exoskeletons. Since the publication of Heinlein’s Starship Troopers in 1959, the concept of an armored suit with enhanced mobility from an internal power source has fascinated military futurists, quickly solidifying as a military fiction staple, and even appearing repeatedly in official “future soldier” concepts from armies and companies around the world.

Looking for a new car? Want something… Different? How about, say, an armored car? Well among their catalog of AK clones, AR-15s, pistols and other assorted firearms, Atlantic has recently listed for sale a Fox armored reconnaissance vehicle. Of course, nothing good in life is free, and if you want this Fox to be yours it’ll be nearly $50,000 – which, by armored vehicle standards, is not that bad. Still, try telling the wife that you’re not getting that BMW 4 Series after all, because wouldn’t an armored car be so much cooler? Well, if you still want to try to convince the missus, maybe Atlantic’s video, embedded below, will help:

The United States Special Operations Command (US SOCOM) is looking for a new variable-power rifle optic to allow users to engage targets out to 600 meters, while still preserving close-in capability. The solicitation, released last week on Fed Biz Opps, announces a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) supply contract for up to $33.2 million dollars worth of the new optics. The draft requires offerors to provide 12 sample optics before December 8th of this year. The solicitation follows a pre-solicitation notice issued in July.

The concept of “modular” or “family line” weapons is far from new, being easily found worldwide, but, much more typically, in the Heckler & Koch house. Once you have a sound, functional firing mechanism/operating system combination, chances are that they may be used in a variety of configurations and calibers. Enter the IMBEL -Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil company. Having developed and placed into production the IA2 family of 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm rifles in both selective-fire and semi-auto variants, in addition to being about to certify a .22LR training kit for the smaller-caliber types, the design office of the concern’s Fábrica de Itajubá (Itajubá Factory) is now playing around with derived .40 S&W and 9x19mm submachine-gun designs, plus a .380 ACP semi-auto carbine.