This past weekend I went to the Arizona Firearms Festival that was hosted by True Shot. This was a 2-day event with day 1 being the vendor expo and day 2 was range day. I was not able to attend the vendor expo because I had something more important going on that day. Fortunately, I was able to attend the range day. Overwatch Precision, POF USA, Shadow Systems, HuxWrx, Mossberg, Century Arms, Canik, SAR USA, Rock Island Armory and Matador Arms were some of the few manufactures that were present at the range day.
One of the first guns I shot was a Matador Arms Montgo-9 upper equipped with a SilencerCo Osprey sound suppressor, mounted onto an AR9 lower. What I like about the Montgo-9 upper is its compatability AR9 and AR15 lower assemblies. But the AR15 lower will require a magazine adapter like that MagX that accepts 9mm pistol magazines. Also, last round hold open feature solely depends upon the lower assembly. I was also able to shoot another Montgo-9 upper and AR9 lower equipped with Matador Arms "The Regulator" muzzle brake. I thought it was pretty ingenious about this muzzle break was its tool-less adjustability. You can go from flash hider to muzzle brake in a few seconds or fine tune it to mitigate recoil. As I sitting here and type this post, I kind of wish I would have asked them about a .40 S&W or 10mm variant. Nonetheless, I like the fact that there are more 9mm pistol options. After shooting their firearms, I spoke with the Matado Arms reps a bit more about the Montgo-9 and The Regulator. I want to get a .300 Win Mag at some point in the future and the muzzle brake initially intended on using was the Precision Armament Hypertap. But given what I experienced with The Regulator and its price, I think I might purchase this instead of the Hypertap.
A few tables over, there was a rep from Cox Arms USA. Prior to speaking with this gentleman, I did not know anything about Cox Arms USA. What caught me by surprise about this company is that they are local. We already have several well known gun manufatures such as Ruger, Patriot Ordnance Factory USA (POF) , Smith Enterprise, McMillan are some of the few that come to mind. But I am always amazed to learn that there are more gun manufactures in this state. I got a chance to shoot the Guardian 556 rifle and it felt like a very well built, high quality, flat shooting AR15. After shooting the rifle, I talked about the rifle and its features with the Cox Arms USA rep. I did not look for more but it has a pretty cool Easter Egg inside upper assembly.After a brief conversation with the Cox Arms USA rep (whom I believe is the company owner), I walked over to the next shooting bay to shoot a few AR15s equipped with HUXWRX HX-QD 556 series supressors.
I have heard about flow-through designed suppressors but never had a chance to shoot any firearms equipped with these type of suppressors. HUXWRX had three AR15s avaible for festival attendees to shoot. The first two had 10" uppers (I believe) and one of these were equipped with a HX-QD 556K compact (I believe) suppressor. The third AR15 was equipped with their standard length HX-QD 556 suppressor and I was not sure if it was their stainless steel or titanium model. I do not own any sound suppressors, but I have experienced gas blowback from multiple suppressor equipped semi-auto firearms. With the HX-QD 556 equipped AR15s I did not experience any blowback. I would love to try one of their HX-QD 762 suppressors on my Savage 110 Tactical. After a brief discussion with the reps from HUXWRX I walked over to the next shooting bay, to shoot what POF had to offer.
I was hoping I would have the opportunity to shoot one of the gas piston .308 Win rifles, but they only brought their direct impingement .308 Win variant of their Revolution series AR15. I have always assumed that ARs did not like steel cased ammo. But much to my surprise, steel case ammo was all that was being fired through this rifle without any problems. I did not get to speak that much with the POF reps because the line for people to shoot POF rifles was getting fairly long.
From POF, I went to Mossberg and shot the Mossberg 940 JM Pro. I own the older 930 JM Pro and I have also used it in 3-gun competition. In my opinion the 930 JM Pro is already a good gun, but the 940 JM Pro is a newer better designed version of the older 930 JM Pro. The rumor I heard about the 940 JM Pro is that Mossberg took Lena Miculek's 930 JM Pro and essentially copied her modifications to to create the 940 JM Pro. The 940 JM Pro should really be considered the LM (Lena Miculek) Pro instead of JM (Jerry Miculek, pro shooter and Lena's father) Pro because Lena quad loads her shotgun by hand and Jerry uses a speed loader (see videos below). By no means is this a grudge I hold against Mossberg, but I am glad to see them sponsoring the Miculeks.
After shooting the Mossberg 940 JM Pro, I got in line to shoot what Rock Island Armory and Armscor had to offer. I was hoping I would get to shoot one of their 9mm or 10mm fullsize 1911. But instead I got to shoot the Armscor STK100, Rock Island Armory TM22 and VRF14. I liked the ergonomics of the STK100 and thought it would be a decent inexpensive first gun. The TM22 would be a great option for something looking for a more modern inexpensive semi-auto 22LR. As for the VRF14... If you have ever wanted a semi-auto shortER barrel shotgun, this one is for you. I don't really care much for 12 gauge firearms without a buttstock but it was nice to shoot it on someone else's dime.From Rock Island/Armscor I went over to SAR USA.
I know
@Michael88 had bad luck with his CZ97B, but I still want one lol. While waiting in line to shoot what SAR USA brought to shoot, I saw a picture of the SAR K2-45 and immediately knew right then and there that is what I wanted to shoot. But when I got to the firing line, I was told that they did not have any 45 ACP ammo. Although I was slightly disappointed about this, they at least allowed me to hold the K2-45 so I can see how it felt in my hand. All wasn't lost because I got to shoot the SAR K12 Sport, SAR K12 Sport X and Sar CM9. I would love to use the K12 Sport in competition and compare it to my friend's CZ Shadow 2. When comparing the shooting experience of the K12 Sport and K12 Sport X, the slide cuts on the X model definitely make a difference in cyclic rate. I informed by the SAR rep that the only difference between the Sport and Sport X are the slide cuts, all the other components are the same.
This post has gotten pretty long so I am going to try to wrap this thing up... After SAR USA I went to Shadow Systems and shot a XR920. I like this gun. If I ever wanted to purchase a Glock G45 and modify it, I would purchase a XR920 instead. I later went back to Shadow Systems and shot the DR920 and I liked this one as well. At Century Arms I shot their AP5 (MP5 clone). As much as I liked the AP5, I am not willing to spend $1,999.99 MSRP. From Century Arms I went to Canik and shot their SFx Rival. Great entry level competition gun, awesome home defense handgun. Lastly, I went back to Mossberg one last time to shoot the 590A1 and went home after that.
The problem is, all those rifles are from the same batch, I bet they all have the same issue to various degrees. I could go with their stainless version, but I don't like the looks of replicas of old guns made in modern stainless.
I'm thinking about a 1911, when 1911's work they are probably the most fun guns ever. IF they work.
