For those that shoot competitively, grabbing every inch/millimeter of advantage could mean the difference between a first place or second loser. And that carries over into every part of a shooters gear. Reloaders of match-grade ammo now have an option to store their magic bullets in the Ammo Book – a ballistic nylon carrying case from Cole-TAC that allows easy access to rounds during a match or shoot.

Back in July Graham Combat released a video introducing the Graham Combat FAST sight system. Developed by Matthew Graham, a firearms trainer and former law enforcement officer, based in Washington state.

Today’s Photo Of The Day is Short Action Precision’s Two Round Holders.

Alton C. is a guest writer for TFB and has contributed a number of articles in the past.

After about two decades of offering two handgun sight options, the new XS Sights F8 night sights diversifies the company’s product lineup and give shooters yet another option to consider when upgrading their sights.

SHOT Show is the pinnacle of all things fun and tacti-cool about the firearms industry. For a week every winter, gun writers, manufacturers and firearm enthusiasts all gather out in the desert of Las Vegas to see what will be the new hotness for the year. This year will be the start of something entirely new for those who are able to attend the exclusive Industry Range Day and report on it for the rest of us. A new Less-Lethal category of products will be allowed to attend and display their wares for everyone to fondle and tantalize over.

On top of the Smith & Wesson M2.0 being leaked, a couple of new Surefire lights were leaked in the same photo. It looks like the upcoming Surefire XH35 and XC-1B lights are going to be revealed soon because Surefire reposted the photo of the new pistol with confirmation that the new lights are legit.

If one were falling for the marketing hype, they might seem to believe that the release of the Generation 5 Glock is a big deal… Sadly, its not just Glock trying to push removal of maligned finger grooves and flared magazine well as a basically new handgun, other companies are piling on as well.

We recently received an excellent opportunity to tour Apex Gun Parts, which you can read about on a recent TFB post here. During the tour we got a chance to sit down with Jeff Salvig and really ask him some in-depth questions about the surplus industry and how he got into it himself, eventually starting his company, Apex Arms. I think Jeff serves as an example to the rest of us, that he started out just as a very passionate collector and through hard work and determination, brought together one of the better companies in the industry when it comes to surplus inventories.

The NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico has long been established as one of the premier shooting locations within the United States. With everything from skeet, trap ranges to thousand yard and silhouette ranges, the center is truly an all encompassing location for anything shooting related. I honestly wish the center took more of center stage within the training and sporting industries because outside of a few select communities, few shooters have even heard of it.

We introduced Jyrki from Finland and his CNC machined throwlevers in a recent TFB post.

Apex Gun Parts is a surplus importer and distributor based in Colorado Springs, that stocks a large amount of inventory for the surplus parts and parts kits manufacturing industries in the United States. The owner, Jeff Selvig was kind enough to give TFB a personal tour of the warehouse and some of the behind the scenes inventory that the company sells through its online presence, in addition as a wholesaler to various manufacturers and stores throughout the industry. Unlike other portions of the firearms industry, the surplus sector is very unique. For one, the collectors and shooters that make it up can be a very passionate group that pursue their historical tastes very thoroughly. Also unlike other parts of the industry, the surplus one is directly tied to the supply of parts and importation of them as well. When they dry up, there can be little hope of new ones entering the market. On the other hand, politics can greatly influence the market that take down importation bans.

Last year Russell Phagan, of KE Arms, brought me to Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun under a media sponsorship to review and shoot some prototypes they had. This year he invited me back to run some new products, and even better, he shipped them to me ahead of the match so I would have more time with them.

Hogue Inc makes a wide variety of grips and grip accessories for handguns of all types. One of its most popular products it makes is a rubber sleeve that slips over the grip. In the fall of 2016, the company introduced a new version of the grip sleeve called a HandALL Beavertail Grip Sleeve.

Shooting on steel can be a lot of fun. Hits are rewarded with the immediate feedback that a flat piece of paper simply cannot provide. Sometimes a hit results in a ringing sound, other times a steel plate will fall. Steel targets are also reusable, and a can of spray paint can return it to a ready condition.

Armageddon Tactical is a Littleton, Colorado-based company that produces and sells various firearms parts, mostly in the AR15 field of accessories, but with this new product, the company has stepped forth into the world of Kalashnikov components. The AK47 Hinged Side Rail Mount is a folding picatinny rail mount that is designed to clip onto the side of an AKM or AK74 receiver’s optic rails, providing a picatinny mount for the rifle that allows the use of the traditional iron sights already mounted to it by unclipping and folding the entire mount to the left of the rifle. There are numerous picatinny mounting options out there for the Kalashnikov platform, but none that allow the entire mount to flip to the left of the rifle as this one does. Unlike the AR15, where the picatinny rails allow for a co-witnessing of iron sights against mounted 1X optics that are fixed in place via an attachment system (negating quick removal of the optic if it goes down), the Kalashnikov iron sights are placed at a very low height to the top of the receiver. Currently, there aren’t many products that allow optics to be mounted AND allow shooters to still use their iron sights should their optics go down.

Gunwerks recently announced the company was releasing an updated version of the BR2500 Ballistic Rangefinder. Called the G7 BR2500, the new unit offers a broad range of features including the extension of its effective range beyond 2,500 yards under optimal conditions (+/- 1 yard at that range). The optic is 7x26mm.

Our own Nathan S. gave the Neomag discreet magazine carrier a very throrough review back in June of 2015. The point of the carrier is to give an everyday concealed carry user the ability to have an extra magazine in their pocket, but in a very minimalistic manner, literally only using a magazine retainer made from rare earth magnets. To help keep the magazine in place, the retainer has wings on the sides to keep the magazine from slipping off, in addition to a rare earth magnet that actually retains the magazine to a certain degree. It isn’t an active retention system such as a velcro strapped cover, but it does a good job of holding the magazine in place and not have it slip off and bounce around in a pocket. At the same time the Neomag uses a clip to keep it secured to the outside of the pocket, but the point of this clip is made to appear like a folding knife clipped into the pocket and not a loaded magazine. Neomag does this by designing the “wings” so that the magazine itself is actually seated very low in the pocket and isn’t protruding at the top.

Radians announced the company is now offering a Bluetooth capable set of hearing protection called the R-3700 Bluetooth Quad Mic. The new ear pro is a muff style set of hearing protection that offers a noise reduction rating (NRR) of 24 dB plus a wealth of electronics features that may be of interest to anyone upgrading from passive muffs.

Last year Nathan S. posted about the introduction of the WarFytr companies IWB Kydex holster Fabriclip belt clips. I initially read about it with interest but soon found myself working on numerous other projects and eventually forgot about the product. However, fast forward several months later and I was trying to find a much better method to attach a Kydex holster to my pants or belt while appendix carrying. I initially started out with my Kydex trigger guard holster made for my Smith & Wesson M&P 9x19mm Shield, with a simple paracord loop that was attaching the holster to my belt. This began as an excellent idea, and still is in some situations, but for the most part it breeds a number of issues.

Companies tend to come in two flavors – those who expand across a wide array of products and those with razor-focus on their competencies. It would seem that Timney Triggers, which as the name implies is known for their triggers, is perhaps showing a glimmer of the former, having spent many years as the latter. Timney’s latest offering is the “49R”, a safety/selector for AR-pattern modern sporting rifles.

I love products that let me shoot faster and more accurate. And the lighter and the more flexible that help is the better. I use bipods quite a lot in all kinds of shooting. When shooting long range I use a bipod all the time, unless there’s some reason (usually a rule) why not to.

The  1/6 “Hard” Über Squad that Marine Infantry Gunner (WO5) Wade put into motion some months ago has taken on Golf Six, a live fire range in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 1/6 is trialing several new pieces of kit, most importantly M27 IARs as a standard squad issued rifle, in addition to suppressors mounted to an entire squad’s weapons. Not discussed earlier but seen here is the addition of new ballistic helmets, squad level communications with every Infantryman, and a new plate carrier separate from currently issued ones. Alongside this Über squad were photographs of other squads that weren’t as lucky to receive all the latest in gadgets and gear.

I have been searching for a security cabinet for interim storage of a few firearms and have come up dry. My requirements are something more than a locked closet but less than a full-on safe for overnight storage. Luckily social media introduced me to Gallow Technologies, a Utah based company that designs and builds cabnets, racks and wallmounts for businesses and end users alike.

There’s a new Red Dot Mount from Spuhr available.

There are times where we gun scribes and bloggers just have to stop and scratch our heads. I swear is not because they itch, but because a company can call something one thing when it is really something else. Perhaps the name and purpose may just be polar opposites, but perhaps the antithesis of what they were going for.

Sticking with the simplistic-functionality theme, the Catalyst Arms team has just released the Leg Locking Levers for the Harris Bipod. Slipping over the knurled leg adjustments, the levers are used to quickly and easily adjust each leg individually using one hand. In the military, law enforcement and competition worlds, the quicker you can level your rifle on target, the greater the chance for success. I personally love gear like this – smart people making affordable and useable gear to solve real world problems.

Taran Tactical Innovations, known throughout the firearms industry for great accessories, has finally tackled Smith & Wesson M&P Shield magazines. They have produced a base pad for factory Smith & Wesson magazines that wins on curb appeal and adds more rounds (9mm +2, .40 S&W +1).

I’m not sure if Glock enjoys the fact that so many of its customers select the previous generation of its products or it loathes it. Most companies that release new products tend to quickly move past the previous generation, but good ol’ “perfect” Glock seems to believe that the new Gen 4 may not be “perfect” by keeping the Generation 3 guns in full-rate production.

Greyboe – moving from McMillan’s offshoot to its own stand-alone enterprise – has been hard at work getting new products out the market. Originally launching with their “Renegade” and “Outlander” stocks, the “Terrain” is their latest offering, obviously designed for use in hunting applications. It is designed for “natural handing” for “hunting and range use.”