One of my favorite stories to write each SHOT is a summary of all things throwback. The Retro Roundup gives me an excuse to snoop around the show looking for anything new in the world of the old. This year’s offerings were so plentiful that I split the article into two parts. This is the non-AR portion. Here are a few of the standouts from SHOT Show 2023.

What a fantastic time to be alive! Here we are again with our Photo Of The Day, which seems to be from the future, but from a future that exists already today. Above we have a rare sight. We see a soldier firing an unsuppressed XM-7 Rifle with the XM-157 Fire Control. The fact that the rifle does not have a suppressor is unusual. The photo is from a controllability trial of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW), and the soldier is shooting from the standing unsupported firing position. The location is the Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD in November 2022.

Welcome everyone to the  TFB Armorer’s Bench! As mentioned in the little blurb below, this series will focus on a lot of home armorer and gunsmith activities. In this article, I decided to try something I have not done before. This article will be pretty uneventful as far as earth-shattering content BUT!!! I could not find much content out there as far as replacing Magpul MBUS sight pieces so I figured I’d share my little adventure and hopefully reveal some helpful things along the way. That being said, let’s dive right into installing XS Sights on the MBUS.

The goal with TFB’s Photo Of The Day is to give your eyes something worth watching every day. Over the years, we have shown firearms and soldiers from North to South, East to West in almost any imaginable situation and climate. For those living in Europe, the almost complete lack of availability of civilian semi-automatic rifles from Heckler & Koch on the market has been evident. After a long wait, there are now a limited number of such rifles available. These pictures come from Austria Arms – Ing. Fritsch Trade GmbH gives you an idea about the inventory.

In this episode of TFBTV, @JamesReeves is at Sons of Liberty Gun Works’ SHOT Show 2023 booth to talk about a new option they’ve added to the SOLGW lineup in order to make nearly any AR sold by SOLGW California Compliant, even with those “scary” features typically banned in the state.

Windham Weaponry continues to add new rifles to its lineup, including an XM177 variant. The XM177 family was one of the first AR-style carbines to enter wide use. Several variants were used, including the XM177E2 and GAU5/A. Most original versions featured a ~4″ moderator attached to a 10″ barrel. The ATF decreed that the original moderator was a silencer and thus required a tax stamp.

Jacob Grey Firearms of West Columbia, SC is a manufacturer of AR-style rifles, 1911 pistols and firearm accessories. At  SHOT Show 2023, Jacob Grey Firearms showed their new JG10 Warthog line of DPMS LR-308 pattern semi-auto rifles and pistols. According to the company officials, what sets their firearms apart from the competition is the extremely tight tolerances that they achieve thanks to their experience in military aircraft parts manufacturing.

At SHOT Show 2023,  Geissele Automatics displayed a number of their government contract rifles as well as a pair of civilian market guns chambered in 6mm ARC (Advanced Rifle Cartridge), the GFR Maritime RECCE and GFR Stratomatch, that are also based on DoD contract guns. Let’s take a closer look.

Rhineland Arms had some very unique guns on display at their SHOT Show booth. They had two replicas of legendary designs (WA 2000 And FG-42) that are far more accessible than the originals.

New for 2023, PSA is introducing a higher end series of ARs with nicer components and several upgrades out of the box. The new Sabre series rifles have features such as cold hammer forged barrels, improved controls and upgraded charging handles. They will also be available with milspec style forged receivers, or billet receivers with improved ambidextrous controls.

Palmetto State Armory recently acquired the Harrington & Richardson brand, and is working with NoDak Spud to make a new series of retro rifles with clone correct features and even historical roll marks. The head of this project is Mike from NoDak Spud, who probably knows more about cloning retro ARs than anybody else in the industry. Hop and Mike had a great conversation at SHOT Show 2023 about the first few guns in the retro series including an M16A1, a 723 style carbine, and a 9mm SMG clone.

Geissele Automatics showed up to SHOT Show 2023 with two new rifles chambered in the ultimate SPR cartridge: 6mm ARC. The competition-ready Stratomatch rifle and the tough and durable GFR (Geissele Freedom Rifle) RECCE.

At this year’s SHOT Show we caught up with the guys at Florida-based Adams Arms, known for their piston driven ARs and the AA-19 (literally the most expensive pistol Hop has ever reviewed over at TFBTV).

Converting .308 Winchester gas guns to 6.5 Creedmoor is normally just a matter of barrel change. No wonder why every time a company introduces an AR10 pattern gun, it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll be offering it in .308 Win and 6.5 CM. Well, the .277 Fury has the same case head and overall length dimensions as the .308 and 6.5 so it was only a matter of time before SIG announced versions of their MCX Spear chambered in these cartridges. At a SIG Sauer range event hosted in Clark County Shooting Complex, we had a chance to take a look at and shoot the SIG Sauer MCX Spear in 6.5 Creedmoor.

Anderson Manufacturing is a major producer of AR-15 parts and guns, but they had other things on display at SHOT Show as well.

Rock River Arms has made AR-15 rifles for many years, and continues to do so. Their newest release is the Ascendant series.

In this episode of TFBTV, @JamesReeves is at SHOT Show 2023 Industry Day at the Range when, all of a sudden, he’s approached by the guys at Olympia Arms to try out a really strange, reciprocating barrel AR-10 that allegedly has less recoil than a 5.56mm AR-15. Is it true?

Shot Show 2023 range day was our first opportunity to get hands-on with Uintah Precision’s new Modern Sporting Muzzleloader.  Built on an AR lower receiver its aim is to bring a modern touch to the muzzleloader market.  I had a chance to get a closer look at this new muzzleloader and speak with Uintah employees about the rifle at this year’s Industry Day at the Range.

At SHOT 2023’s Industry Day at the Range, Mean Arms unveiled their new Bearing Delayed 9mm carbine.  This new design uses their existing endomags in conjunction with a standard pattern AR-15 lower.  A set of three ball bearings (rather than rollers) are used in order to create a more tuneable delayed blowback firearm.  I had the opportunity to shoot the carbine and speak with Mean Arms about this radically new design.

German police departments who had previously selected Haenel’s CR223 won’t have to destroy their carbines following an earlier ruling by Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court in a patent infringement case. We initially reported on the court’s ruling late last year. Haenel have now released a statement explaining their position feeling that media reporting around the case has not been as nuanced as it should be, noting that “without question, this reporting has led to uncertainty among our customers.”

I’ve never really been one to go for gimmicky triggers, and I always thought a two-stage trigger was just that – a gimmick. I had played around with a few at SHOT years ago and was basically pretty “meh” about the whole idea. RISE offered to send me their new two-stage, the ICONIC, for a test run.

Welcome everyone to the 175th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

In 2023 I’m going to give Gas Gun Precision Rifle Series a go in a few competitions, to see what a DMR-style rifle and myself can accomplish together. All the experts have always told me that gas guns aren’t accurate enough. Bolt actions are always going to be more accurate, period. Now, I’m not saying they are wrong, but I like to try things out myself. Preferably with help from friends. Our results can be found in this article, which is not intended to be scientific. Take it for what it is, a fun day at the range with some interesting discoveries. Can a gas gun beat a bolt-action in terms of precision, or is the author on very thin ice here? Let’s see!

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new YHM Turbo T3 rifle suppressor. Since it is New Year’s Eve, I thought we could reflect back at the year in suppressors with a few of my favorite things. This episode marks five straight years of the Silencer Saturday series. Thank you all for joining us every week for an NFA journey and spreading the word of reducing hearing damage and quieter shooting.

Odin Works offers a full suite of complete firearms, parts, and accessories primarily for the AR platform. From AR-15s, AR-10s, AR-9s, suppressors, and more, this Boise, Idaho-based shop pretty much does it all. Previously, their AR-10 complete upper receiver lineup has ranged in length from 16″ to 22″ barrels. Now the company is expanding their offerings by adding a new carbine-length option as well. Meet the new Odin Works 11.5″ .308 complete upper receiver.

The Ruger SFAR or Small Frame Auto-Loading Rifle was released earlier this year to the pleasure of many firearms enthusiasts including many readers of TFB. Judging from the initial responses in the comments from the product announcement, many of you seem interested in a lightweight small-frame AR-10 for hunting, and regular range use with the smaller frame of the SFAR being ideal for carrying afield and the reduced weight making it much more portable. However, I think the biggest draw that got a lot of readers excited about the SFAR was the price. The Ruger SFAR retails for an MSRP of just $1,229 for either the 20″ barrel or 16″ barrel configuration. This makes the SFAR one of the most affordable lightweight small-frame .308 semi-auto rifles on the market (many have compared the SFAR to the POF Rogue). We could go back and forth all day about pricing, feature sets, and use cases for this rifle, but what about its performance? I’ve had my own copy of the 16″ Ruger SFAR for a couple of months now and I’ve poured hundreds of rounds of .308 through it and also had the benefit of having two other TFB contributors who have the same rifle give me their performance data, meaning as opposed to a sample size of just one, we’re getting to see the performance of 3 different copies of the same rifle, which should give all of you the info you need to make an informed decision as to whether or not the Ruger SFAR is the right choice for you.

Place this one in the ‘it’s not new, but it hasn’t received any press’ column. SureFire muzzle devices, especially their muzzle brakes and three-prong or four-prong flash hiders have been industry leaders for many years. The wide adoption of the SureFire SOCOM series of suppressors across the armed forces has driven the continuous refinement of flash and/or muzzle rise reduction (the WarComp family of muzzle devices combines both flash hiding and muzzle brake characteristics). For those who are more minimalist-minded, SureFire has released the SFA2-556 flash hider and SOCOM suppressor mount.

Rounding out the trio of new NexGen AR-15 parts from Tyrant Designs is the new AR-15 NexGen Handguard. Tyrant Designs claims that the new handguard is the “most advanced and ergonomic handguard on the market today.” The new handguard like the rest of the NexGen AR-15 series of parts features rubber overmolded portions for a better grip and a removable M-LOK slot scale for out-of-the-box user customization.

From its aerospace manufacturing roots, Arizona-based Blackout Defense has emerged in the last few years as an AR manufacturer striving for design innovation. From their Zero triggers to their barrel and receiver locking systems, to their hybrid muzzle device, Blackout endeavors to improve and refine components of the well-established AR-15 design. This has won them support from buyers in many parts of the country, but California shooters haven’t had an option for compliance with their state’s particular regulations – until now. In the following press release, the company announced that they are now offering a Cali-compliant option in their website’s custom rifle builder tool. Read more below.

Added to their rapidly growing lineup of aftermarket Gucci AR-15 parts is the new AR-15 NexGen Buttstock from Tyrant Designs CNC. The new buttstock follows a lot of the same design cues as the rest of Tyrant Designs’ other aftermarket parts and features aggressive angles, stylized highlights, and comfortable rubber molding for an aesthetically pleasing yet functional buttstock for your AR rifle.