I remember in the LE world during the introduction of the original Taser M-Series (and requirement that we get tased as part of training). We used to joke “What’s next-having to get shot by your own handgun to qualify with it?”  Nowadays, that is a distinct possibility with the widespread availability of Simunition® training using modified firearms. FN America and General Dynamics have teamed up to create a new Simunition® pistol based on the 509 platform for law enforcement training.  To delineate it as a Simunition®-only platform, the pistol features a blue frame and blue Simunition slide/barrel assembly, as well as blue magazine baseplates.  The frame and fire control group should be compatible with regular FN 509 slides, however.  (If one was so inclined to have a blue frame/black slide FN 509, this would be one rather expensive way to go about it.)

TriggrCon, similar to SHOT Show, is a shooter’s paradise of rifles, handguns and gunpowder galore. Rise Armament was one of those manufacturers in attendance at TriggrCon recently and they had a rifle hidden up their sleeves for all of us. They announced their newest rifle by unveiling the 300LE chambered in .223 Wylde.

SIG Sauer have announced that Alabama’s Montgomery Police Department will be adopting the SIG P320 as their next official duty pistol. The department has over 500 officers, currently armed with Glocks. SIG have been enjoying a steady stream of law enforcement contracts of late, Montgomery PDs being the latest in a series including Virginia State Police,  Tampa PD,  Arkansas’ Jacksonville PD and the Texas Department for Public Safety.

Last Monday night, Shopify changed their policy about what items can be sold via their e-commerce platform. Shopify is banning the sale of firearms and firearm related accessories.

Spike’s Tactical has a new AR design by Rare Breed Firearms. Spike’s will be the sole exclusive distributor of this new AR design. They are calling it the Spartan.

At the end of July, we reported that SIG Sauer had been awarded the $48 million contract to provide US SOCOM’s Suppressed Upper Receiver Group or SURG. At the time there was no confirmation of what form this new SURG took. SIG Sauer has since released a press release confirming their selection.

Another Police Department has selected a SIG Sauer pistol, but not the one you are thinking off. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, of Columbus, Ohio has adopted SIG’s venerable P226, not the P320 which is being increasingly favoured by law enforcement agencies.

DroneShield, manufacturer’s of the DroneGun have announced that their lightened DroneGun Tactical has been certified safe for human exposure. The DroneGun Tactical is an improved anti-drone device which can jam and take control of aerial drones from ranges up to 1 km. DroneShield aim to provide safe countermeasures against a wide range of current drone models. The lightened ‘Tactical’ model was introduced back in February 2018.

As we reported last week SIG Sauer are about to release versions of their government-adopted M17 ato the civilian market, however, only one of these will be identical to the US Ary’s Modular Handgun spec, complete with manual safety. Just 5,000 of these authentically government-marked M17s will be made available. An additional M17 Collectors Case will also be offered separately.

SENTRY-owned Hexmag have launched their new Glock compatible magazine, a clear polymer magazine with Hexmag’s characteristic hexagon texture pattern. Hexmag first teased their Glock mag back in January 2017, at SHOT Show. Those early magazines were black polymer prototypes.

FN America has confirmed in a Press Release that they have been chosen to produce two prototypes for the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program (NGSAR).

The Virginia State Police look to be the latest in a string of recent law enforcement agencies to adopt the SIG Sauer P320 as their next sidearm. It follows recent contracts from police departments across the country including Tampa PD,  Arkansas’ Jacksonville PD and the Texas Department for Public Safety.

Mossberg has certainly been spicing it up lately. From magazine-fed 12 gauge shotguns to drop in match grade AR triggers, the iconic North Haven, CT manufacturer is getting some attention from shooters. While the JM Pro trigger is standard equipment on some of Mossberg’s AR15 and AR10 rifles, it is now available for sale as a drop in replacement to any standard AR.

Not to be outdone by the 4,000+ mile river in South America, umm, I mean the largest eCommerce site in the world, our friends at Brownells have kicked off a Prime Time sale and charity challenge that ends on 7/20/2018. Although the details are spelled out below, the program is pretty simple: shop for discounted guns and gear and part of the proceeds heads to the selected charity of the day.

Rheinmetall have won the contract to equip the German Army’s special forces, the KSK Kommando Spezialkräfte, with a new laser light package. These will be mounted on the KSK’s new G95 (HK416) rifles, adopted in 2017.

For those of you interested in getting your hands on the TS12 bullpup shotgun that was announced at SHOT 2018, IWI is providing us with shipping updates so you can plan your gun budget accordingly. The TS12 in black will be available sometime around November with the FDE and OD Green models appearing in early 2019. Black Tavor-7s will be available any day with the Masada pistol rolling out in January of 2019. Full details can be found in the press release below

Optics manufacturer Nikon released a Microsite dedicated to their Black line of sport optics that includes scopes, red dots and range finders. Although the move could be considered a bit vanilla, it does signal additional dedication to optics for the shooting, hunting and tactical world. Traditionally, Nikon has focused on their core business of manufacturing cameras and lenses for the recreational and professional photography market. Details on the Black.NikonSportOptics.com Microsite can be found below.

Trijicon, best known for the ACOG and their range of firearm optics, has moved to acquire AmeriGlo, the Georgia based manufacturer of high visibility pistol sights. AmeriGlo will remain a stand alone brand within Trijicon, with the company continuing to manufacture their ranges of sights for pistols made by Glock, Beretta, FN, SIG Sauer, Smith & Wesson and Heckler & Koch.

Back in April, we reported that the Danish Armed Forces had selected the SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry. Trials of new pistols to replace the venerable SIG P210 began in late 2017. The Glock 17 Gen 5, Beretta APX, Canik TP 9 SF, and the SIG P320 X-Carry were tested with the SIG Sauer weapon winning out.

Somehow we totally missed this little bit of news… I have been not only running TACOs on my duty gear for a couple of years (and my competition belt for longer than that), but I have had previous experience with Comp-Tac Holsters (specifically the Minotaur MTAC). HSGI picked up Comp-Tac in part to add holsters to their otherwise versatile line.

Nikon has recently been pushing into the sporting and tactical market, leveraging their excellent optics design and engineering talent (as evidenced by their history of cameras, binos, and hunting scopes).  I recently ran their BLACK X1000 during a precision rifle class and was duly impressed with the clarity and performance of the optics and am so far impressed with their direction. The newest offering is the “Nikon P-TACTICAL SUPERDOT”.

PepperBall has announced that they have won a substantial contract to equip the US Army with their non-lethal Variable Kinetic System launcher. The contract is worth $650,000 and the PepperBall VKS is destined to equip troops in Afghanistan.

Several years ago, SilencerCo offered an “In The White” version of their rimfire monocore Suppressor the Sparrow. Sure, it did everything my normal Sparrow did, but I wanted one anyway. Alas, that white little bird never ended up flying into my cage safe, mostly due to the dust in my wallet. Fast forward to 2018, and SilencerCo has decided to expand its color palette to include several of their most popular silencers in both white and FDE.

MTM Case-Gard recently unveiled their Tactical Pistol Case line, capable of carrying multiple firearms at once. This helps to eliminate the need to carry separate handgun cases when going to the range. The addition of several key features allows the user to consider Tactical Pistol Case as a temporary storage option as well.

According to a press release from SIG Sauer, published on 11 June, Tampa PD have opted to replace their current Smith & Wesson M&P duty pistols with the P320. Tampa PD will purchase 1,375 P320s to equip officers, although no calibre was specified, the department currently uses .40SW.

Hornady’s Rapid Rack® has recently gained some significant international appeal. The French Ministry of Defense has especially taken a liking to their Rapid Rack® because of its ability to allow individuals in close proximity to know a firearm is unloaded. Simultaneously, any firearm with this device can be loaded at a moment’s notice by simply cycling it out of the action.

The AA-12 – Originally designed in the 1980’s (with an M16A1 handguard no less), the Atchisson Assault-12 has been tried out by a few military/LE customers.  It has been seen mostly on film, as no semiautomatic variant ever existed for sale.  However, TFB’s own version of Nostradamus, Nathaniel F. noted changes to this situation back in 2016 with this excellent article on the work of Mr. Boje Cornils to make a semiautomatic version.  The hard work of Mr. Cornils has finally come to fruition, per the press release below from Sol Invictus Arms.

Franklin Armory has been making lots of waves so far in 2018. From the straight cut barreled Reformation debuted at the 2018 SHOT Show, their Binary Trigger for the CZ Scorpion Evo to their new TR-4 Binary Trigger with a full-auto option (for legal full-auto firearms).

For the remaining days of May, Daniel Defense is offering a free Vortex Sparc AR red dot to anyone purchasing one of their firearms or suppressors. Links, details and information on the redemption program can be found below. Additionally, I have included information and a link for the Vortex Sparc AR red dot optic.

Federal Premium (part of Vista Outdoor) has just announced a new load for the .224 Valkyrie round that is rapidly gaining popularity with long range shooters. Topped with 90gr Sierra MatchKing bullets, the new round can stay supersonic our past 1300 yards with drastically reduced recoil compared to other calibers in its class. Additional information on Federal’s Sierra MatchKing 224 Valkyrie round and product links can be found below.