rlauferblog

Given that this event was during the week, it is not surprising that it was more “intimate” than past events at Easthill…it was great to catch up with my friends from Stoeger Canada and get some good shooting tips from a Beretta Team shooter.

Some of the guns on the line

I chose the M9A3

This event was open to those with and without a licence and it was nice to see new shooters having a great time

I did not stay too long so no store pics this time…but as always, very friendly staff and an enjoyable experience, thanks again!

RL

As you may have seen in my previous review or recent article in High Capacity magazine, I am happy to own a John Wick 2 gun, a Taran Tactical John Wick Combat Master Package G34.

As much as I love that gun, I have always been a 1911 fan and STI is one of my favourite makes so I was pretty thrilled when they released the JW3 gun at SHOT show 2019 and now, thanks to Freedom Ventures and Bulls Eye London, I have my grail gun!

Specs on the gun (per Taran’s website)
5.4 Inch Match Grade Bull Barrel
FDE/Bronze BLC coated Barrel
Combat Master Slide Cuts
Extreme Engineering Fire Control Group
Fiber optic front sight and adjustable rear sight
New Extended Slide Release
New extended Mag release
1.75-2.5 LBS trigger pull
Stainless Steel Guide Rod
Grip job
Tactical STI magazine
Four 22 round magazines with Taran Tactical baseplates

Compared to the JW2 gun

I went from the store straight to the range…I tried both 9mm and 9mm MAJOR and had absolutely no issues with the 100+ rounds I put through it. As you would expect from an STI, it shoots like a dream! What surprised me the most was how it tamed the 9mm MAJOR…I was expecting it to have a much bigger kick than it did.

My buddy liked it as well

And now for some detail shots

So I am super pleased with my purchase! Having shot it side by side with the G34 it is hard to pick a single winner…I like both! And thanks again to Bulls Eye.

Next stop, Taran Tactical JW3 Benelli M2!

RL

Last year’s inaugural Guns and Tactical Show was a great success. The co-organizers, Lanz Shooting Supplies and Code of Arms took lessons learned and made this year’s live fire trade show even better!

Some of the changes included modifying the show hours, limiting VIP tickets to 100, each with 2-day access, a larger swag bag, entry into prize draws, and a complimentary ammo ticket. And most importantly, more guns! I think there were about 100 on the line!

I attended with two of my shooting buddies, TheShmoo and Dave, both of whom have been to several shooting events and both of whom came away thinking that GAT Show was very well organized. The volume of guns and spread over 8 ranges meant we never had to wait in a long line. There was also great signage listing each gun on each range so it was easy to find what you wanted to shoot. Just very well done!

And that brings me to my main caveat of this review. Typically, I like to post pics of every gun shot by every member of my party. However, given that we each shot at least 10 guns and that we split up at times, that was not feasible. So keep in mind that our experience was even bigger than what is being posted in this review!

Part 1: The Tent

GAT show is divided into two main parts, a “tent” featuring a number of vendors and the live fire “try before you buy” spread across 8 of Silverdale’s ranges.

As is usually my routine for such events, I hit the vendors first, heading straight to visit my friends at Code of Arm’s

to pick up one of their t-shirts….

And to pick up a copy of the latest High Capacity magazine, featuring my first article, The Guns of John Wick!

Note in the above pics I am wearing my new HuntersHD Gold Aviators…thanks to Sean from Freedom Ventures for introducing me to these purpose built shooting glasses…not only are they photochromic, they meet or exceed milspecs for perspiration resistance, ultraviolet stability, salt spray resistance, heat resistance, solvent resistance, abrasion resistance, and flexibility…the lenses are incredibly clear and I can’t wait to try them on the range today

The crew from Firearms Outlet Canada were on site to sell tickets to the upcoming TACCOM show.

It was great to chat about the show. I already have a media pass but wow, the more I hear about TACCOM the more excited I become! In addition to Chris Costa, there will be other well known US trainers at the show as well as manufacturers from the US and Europe. A 40+ page programme listing all exhibitors will be released soon. Not sure how much more I can divulge here but wow, you do not want to miss this show!

As an aside, I must say that I like to see this comradery in the gun community…none of this “TACCOM is a competing show so they cant sell tickets here” nonsense. Thanks for sticking together GAT and TACCOM.

Next a check-in at Vortex to get more details on some of the optics they have will have on the shooting line…always educational.

I met the guys from Patch Panel at last year’s show and since that time I have become a lot more into patches, or at least have now realized how much I like them lol. Indeed I am not alone as I found out that some collector patches can command significant amounts of money, as in up to $1,800!

I really liked this Glockamole patch

This Deadpool collector patch has been seen for around $350 on the secondary market!

Patch Panel also does custom laser-cut work

I picked up a couple of patches as well.

Next stop, host Lanz Shooting Supplies..

Where I found one of the most beautiful guns of the show, a Colt Python! I think the Python is a great match to my Aviators with their removalble side shields lol

As well as another interesting revolver, the Chiappa Rhino, which was on my list to shoot.

Two more guns on my list to try, the Angstadt Arms UDP and Chiappa Little Badger (which sadly I did not end up shooting)

More of the Lanz display

Ragnarok Tactical for your safety needs

Whether they be medical supplies

Or body armour

We ran into Tracey Wilson …the last time I took a picture of Dave and Tracey, it ended up in the CCFR’s Down Range TV show…let’s see what happens this time lol

Black Bear Gear with Warrior Assault Systems and Eickhorn-Solingen Edged Combat & Rescue Knives

N.A.S. Guns and Ammo

Part 2: The Range

TheShmoo and I saw the Glock 48 during one of our gun store tours last week and we were anxious to shoot it so we hit the Glock range first.

It is hard to describe but it is pretty much how I expected a single stack Glock would feel. Again, my personal Glocks are at the opposite end of the grip spectrum so I think it would take some getting used to…the bottom line is that it was a little better than I thought but I am not ready to buy one.

Next TheShmoo wanted to try the Shadow 2…and he liked it a lot!

Dave already has a Shadow so he also wanted to compare it against the Shadow 2. He said that you can definitely feel a difference but he didn’t like the red-dot mounted on this one. Later in the day he ended up shooting another Shadow 2 without a red-dot and he much preferred that one.

Next stop, Tactical Imports

Where they had a nice selection of Type 81s, MK 1919 shotgun and my gun of choice, the BRS-99!

I put four mags through the BRS-99 last year and loved it so wanted to give the “Polish UZI” another whirl…you don’t see these too often

Yup, loved it

Dave also liked it but would get it with the non-restricted longer barrel

The NFA was right next to Tactical Imports and they had a staggering array of guns all the way up to a .50BMG. I really liked the fact that they brought some prohib revolvers, very “on brand” with their “No Compromise” positioning. TheShmoo shot two of them and preferred the little snubbie in .38.

Last year I missed shooting the Skorpion and I wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. It was nice but I should have put a few mags through it to really get the feel.

The STAG10 was also on my list. I have never shot an AR platform in .308. I realize that .308 is much bigger than .223 but I guess I was expecting the AR platform to tame the recoil a but more than it did. As such, I think I will stick to .223. By contrast, Dave liked the punch of the .308.

Next stop, North Sylva for another one on my list, the HK SFP9. I had shot the P30L at SHOT show and wasn’t crazy about the trigger so I thought the SFP might be a bit better in that regard and my hypothesis was confirmed.

Lanz had quite a few of the guns that I wanted to try.

Including the Angstadt Arms UDP…the Sig MPX shown next to it, made me a believer out of AR platforms in 9mm. Indeed, the MPX is one of my favourite guns and having the ability to use Glock mags is a huge bonus. That having been said, and I don’t mean to offend Angstadt owners, the MPX feels like a way superior gun. Yes, the Sig is more expensive, but I would pay that difference.

I am used to shooting revolvers in single action and in bigger calibers so the 9mm Chiappa with its low barrel was an interesting sensation. I thought it was ok while Dave loved it and said he would “buy one any day”

My favourite gun at the Lanz booth turned out to be the S-W M&P..i haven’t shot one for years but I hear so many good things about them that I wanted to give it another try…very easy to shoot and all hits were on the steel plate.

Ok a quick snack before moving on…some great food trucks this year including Bacon Crazy where I had the won tons stuffed with bacon and hot sauce and covered in maple syrup

As we passed by O’Dell’s booth I saw my favourite AR, the F1, now fitted with a HIPERFIRE trigger…I was planning to shoot it again but did not end up doing so.

Lots of great stuff at the SIG booth including the 320 in a RONI micro conversion kit and the new MPX Copperhead edition with its 4.5” barrel!

I also shot the MK25

It was great chatting with the rep from Evans Group, shown here with their rotating magazine shotgun

Evans are the distributors for Springfield Armory and I love their 1911s (I am actually on the list for one of their FBI guns). Here is TheShmoo shooting one of the M1As

Next over to Vortex for more precision gun shooting out of custom builds with Custom German Gun and PSE stocks.

Last but certainly not least, the monster Cadex Tremor and Dave’s absolute favourite gun of the day.

So just to recap, here are the guns that I shot in order of my preference:

1 Sig MPX Copperhead
2 BRS 99
3 CZ Scorpion
4 HK SFP9-SD
5 Sig P320 RONI
6 Smith & Wesson M&P
7 Sig MK25
8 Glock 48
9 Chiappa Charging Rhino
10 Angstadt Arms UDP
11 Stag 10 AR10

Once again, fantastic job organizing GAT Show…we all had a great time and agree that this one of Canada’s “big three” must attend events, along with TACCOM and Wolverine Days.

RL

Well my obsession with visiting gun stores continues with one on Friday, FOUR yesterday, and today I took advantage of the nice weather to take a road-trip to Bulls Eye London.

Given the frequency of my visits I am no longer documenting every single one but I do keep my camera in the car just in case something special arises and how fortunate as this weekend was a Glock event at Bulls Eye! I wish I had known about it sooner as I would have arrived earlier than 1 hour before closing.

The Glock reps on site had samples of their product line (see below), swag to hand out, and performed free tune ups to your Glock. Of course, there were also in-store deals on Glocks.

I took the opportunity to check out the new single stack 48, designed with the Canadian market in mind with its 106mm barrel. The single stack was quite a strange sensation to me in contrast to the huge grips on my personal Glocks (G20 and G34 with the Taran Tactical John Wick package). I look forward to shooting it next week at GAT Show.

With some swag

And compared to the G40, the long-slide 10mm.

Apparently the G40 is popular for wilderness ATC where you need a power factor of .41 magnum or above. I have come to like the long slide Glocks and would love to shoot this side by side with my G20.

Finally, the G19X…I have shot this a couple of times and you can definitely notice a difference over the G19 in terms of controllability with the larger frame.

Thanks again to the reps for all the useful info and of course to Bulls Eye for hosting.

RL

Given that gun stores are located so far away from downtown Toronto, I typically like to go on “tours” to multiple locations at a time. Today TheShmoo and I hit Urban Tactical, Triggers and Bows, Bulls Eye London, and Select Shooting! We snapped a few pics on the way and hopefully this post can be helpful to those of you considering the guns that we will cover and if you are thinking of buying from these stores.

URBAN TACTICAL
I have been to Urban Tactical several times but never to one of their events until today’s 5.11 / Glock Day! This annual event is usually held on or as close to possible May 11, or 5.11 and features sales on both product lines as well as the chance to shoot the Glock lineup. Staff from Glock Canada were also on hand to answer questions and work on your Glock.

Lots of Glock swag around

Including a chance to win from the prize table

Ok on to the range…I believe there were 6 different models on the line, including the 17, 19, 22 and 34 (forgot the others).

I was hoping for a 17C, 17L or 26 but no luck so I decided not to shoot (as I already tried all the ones on the line)…. it was still great to see new and experienced shooters having fun. Shooters getting pointers from the ROs before firing away…

All done on the range, TheShmoo and I hit the store to check out some guns.

Again, no luck on the Glocks I want (especially the G26 ☹ ) so I took another look at the G34…quite different in feel compared to my Taran Tactical John Wick 2 gun.

I love shopping with TheShmoo because he always spots those rare/unique guns so quickly…this time a Colt Anaconda in .44magnum.

It was really packed and we didn’t want to take too much time photographing guns so on to the rest of the store….besides, i came with a mission of getting some new mid-length boots

I liked the Salomon XD Forces GTX Mid and will come back to try them on when it is less crowded.

I wasn’t too familiar with Snugpak bags before today

But this shiny one looked great..i have since done some research and found out that they have a great reputation..i will have to take a closer look next time

Lots of tactical gloves from 5.11, TurtleSkins, Mecanix, and Oakley

In terms of their knives, I liked that mini-Kukhri and the trainer on the left

Big selection of Yeti coolers

In terms of clothing, the tactical shirts were really nice

As were some of the funny Tshirts

Last stop before hitting the barbeque was the Garage Sale where theShmoo picked up the last Blackhawk Nomex Balaclava for $10! (damn his eagle eye, I would have snagged that) and a drum mag conversion for his shotgun for $20!

So all in all a great event and now that I know it is an annual one, I will definitely be back next year.

TRIGGERS AND BOWS

I had never been to Triggers and Bows before (just a 15 min drive from Urban) so was a bit shy about taking pics with my DSLR but I could not resist the urge to snap at least a few phone pics.

This was my first time actually seeing a Hi-Point in person and it was even bigger/heavier than I imagined! Think Motorola Brick phone.

I was also surprised to see the new ZEV O.Z-9, their first fully in-house gun. All internals are made by Zev but are compatible with Glocks. The frame is different and angled more like a 1911. I was surprised at the length of the handle and I cant imagine a human with hands that are too large for this grip.

And check this out, a real Red Ryder!!! I didn’t know they were still making these

Remember to wear eyepro so you don’t shoot your eye out

I would totally rock this gun sock if only it fit a real full size rifle

It was great to find out T&B also offers range rental and I will check out their range next time.

BULLS EYE LONDON

My main reason for visiting Bulls Eye today was to check out the new Cadex Sheepdog. This “vaporware” gun has been talked about for years and has finally hit our market. The idea is to put a Cadex action in a more conventional stock as opposed to the full chassis we are used to seeing. This is very appealing to me as I am looking for something lighter like a Remington M-24. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Cadex chassis and I get the advantages of having a stable platform etc, I just want something lighter.

From that perspective, I was shocked at the beefiness of the Sheepdog. While it may be lighter than the chassis guns on paper, to me it felt the same. Sure, the action is super smooth and the ergonomics are good but if I were to get something that heavy, I would just get one of their standard models. For size comparison.

Score they had the ZEV O.Z-9 as well so I could take a closer look. This time I tried the trigger and it was great! I really want to shoot this.

I bought my MR223 through Bulls Eye, a black one with 14.5” barrel and I have been meaning to check out the 11” variant in RAL2000..in addition to the smaller size, this one had m-loc instead of a quad rail and conventional sights instead of the adjustable diopter one on mine…still a beauty of a gun.

Perhaps my favourite gun of the day was the Sig CSOR commemorative edition….the grip feels different than a conventional P226 and I actually like all the markings.

We also looked at the HK Mark 23 SOCOM and GSG MP-40, which was surprisingly beefy for a .22lr (sorry no pics).
As always, great to catch up with the crew at Bulls Eye and I will be back soon when my order comes in.

We stopped off at Select Shooting on the way home in the hopes of checking in on Dean but alas he was not at the store. We did not stay long enough to take pics but had a nice chat.

Always fun to spend the day doing gun related things…cant wait till GAT show next month.

RL

It was great to see Tactical Imports back at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show! The last time they were here it was amidst a huge buzz around the Type 81, now available with both a fixed stock

And folding stock.

Truth be told, I didn’t think the Type 81 was my style of gun. However, I really like this variant with genuine issue quad rail! Now THIS is something I would buy!

TheShmoo liked it too.

More my typical speed, the HK G36 which I had seen at a previous event but wanted a closer look. The first thing I noticed is how light it is compared to my HK MR223 (granted that one has a ton of accessories hanging off it but still). Tactical Imports will be bringing in more of these and the ones with Walther barrels (in place of HK) will be priced accordingly.

At that same event where I first saw the G36, I had the opportunity to try another TI exclusive, the BRS-99 and it is incredibly fun to shoot!

TI also brought a nice selection of Extrema Ratio knives, including the KH at my request (thanks gents!). This is ER’s take on a kukri except with multiple grinds to make it a great chopper and slasher.

I like the drop-leg sheath as well.

The Waki is super light for something of this length.

The RAO II, same great features of the RAO but with a different blade profile.

Next stop, Nikon. They always have something great for the show, last year it was the $10,000 star gazing binoculars (and old field microscope), this year their new red-dot

And one of my favourites of the show, these mini-binoculars….incredible performance for such a small size.

Another show surprise, this time at the Stoeger booth, was this one-off Benelli concept shotgun with leather wrap and crazy fiber optic ghost ring sights among many other unique features

Stoeger introduced the Victrix line of precision rifles such as this Pugio at last year’s show…they have been very well received among law enforcement communities.

Also at Stoeger’s booth, Steiner optics such as the ShadowQuest, designed for lower light hunting

The Military Marine

Commanders

In search of more firearms, I headed over to the Bell Outdoors booth where I was greeted by the Hatsan Escort Raider mag fed

Versus the new Escort DF12 with more AR like controls

However my favourite shotgun by far was the Escort TFS or “top folding stock”

With the stock extended

Still more firearms at Shooter’s Choice

And AIM Firearms and Outdoors, one of our newest gun stores.

That about covers it for firearms so moving on to more gear….I discovered Nanuk at last year’s show and have since acquired two of their cases…amazing pieces of kit! New this year is a 36” version of their long gun case for carbines or take down rifles.

And specs on the rest of their lineup of gun cases

It was great to connect with Dan, he is a great ambassador for the industry.

Nice poster they had at their booth too lol

Another one of my show favourites, the Garmin 701 with Ballistic calculator. My next wrist instrument for sure (too bad I wasn’t wearing my Surefire Luminox 2011 for size comparison)

One model down, the 601

I would be happy with a Tactix too…especially this blacked out version!

While the Sportsmen’s Show is focused on hunting and fishing, you can find tactical gear if you look hard enough. I really liked Mgear’s style, especially their belt buckle knife all held together by magnets.

Some EDC cards from Mgear.

Custom hunting knives from Ron Post

Helle Knives of Sweden at the Canadian Outdoor Equipment booth

Along with Gransfors axes

Of course attending such shows is not just about guns and gear, it’s also about meeting and re-connecting with industry folk, like Amanda Lynn Mayhew and Baby Goes Pew Pew at Just Hunt

Tony Bernardo and Jarlath at the CSSA, working tirelessly for our gun rights

As are Rod and Tracey from the CCFR

As usual, I don’t cover the fishing or boating sections as I don’t know enough about those to do them justice. I will say that the fishing section appeared to be especially busy this year…way more people than in the hunting / firearms sections.

So the bottom line is that I know people in the firearms community would like to see more representation of our sport, especially having restricteds but I think it is still a worthwhile visit. I always manage to find something that I like and it is a great opportunity to re-connect with people.

While I am not a huge fan of the International Centre, one benefit of the venue is its proximity to my favourite place for souvlaki, Zet’s, which TheShmoo and I hit on our way back from the show.

While Zet’s was filling, our gun appetite was not totally satisfied so we stopped off at Al Flaherty’s for dessert. Here we were pleased to find a Mossberg 590A1 Retrograde, complete with its wood furniture.

Although we just saw a Victrix Pugio at the show, this was our first time seeing one in the wild, so to speak.

Victrix doesn’t just make tactical rifles, here is one of their competition guns with the lightest trigger I have ever experienced

The new Sig M400 Tread…very light and streamlined

The new Sig Select series in 1911 and P226 with the matching custom grips and rails among other features

The new Kahles Helia RD

No major purchases for me, just some LEO over-run training ammo

All in all a great day.
RL