This year’s Shot Show has lots of new guns and related products. I’m interested in guns that are most suitable for prepping and survival purposes: particularly home defense and small game hunting. Here’s a brief partial list (to be updated as the Show continues).
Beretta has a brand new .22 LR pistol. It’s the M9 pistol built from the ground up for .22LR, not one of those add-on systems. The Firearm Blog has a quick review. Most interestingly, it has a 15 round magazine. The gun seems to be the full size M9, not scaled down.
Not long ago, Beretta revealed its latest version of the M9, called M9A3. If you like the Beretta 92FS, this may be your gun. It’s really a home defense gun, as it is too big for concealed carry. I prefer the PX4 myself. And now there is a Compact Carry version of the PX4. Nice.
For small game hunting, you can’t go wrong with a .22LR rifle. Chiappa has a new version of their lever action rifle: the Kodiak Cub. It’s a takedown model, for easy carry in a backpack. The stock and forend are coated with an all-weather polymer. It takes 15 rounds, loaded in the front of the tubular magazine.
For concealed carry, you can’t go wrong with a revolver in .357 magnum/.38 special. Kimber has a new revolver, the K6s. Kimber is famous for their 1911s, and now they are adding a line of revolvers to the mix. Check out this review at TFB.
My top choice for a home defense gun would be a 9mm Carbine. But there are not many choices out there. Now SIG SAUER has finally released their MPX in a non-NFA Carbine with a 16 inch barrel. American Rifleman has the rundown. Great gun, but pricey.
Another option: the Caracal CC10 Carbine. The gun takes Caracal pistol 18-round magazines, has a full-length top rail, and a non-folding stock. It looks a lot like the Beretta Cx4. Here’s the official page on the Caracal site.
Updates:
Another good pistol-caliber carbine: Zenith Firearms MP5. With a 16 inch barrel, it’s a rifle, not a pistol, so you avoid the NFA hassles. Hi-cap mags are available, in States that allow it. Nothing too remarkable here. Just a solid option for home defense.
Matrix Arms 9mm AR-style carbine that takes Glock mags and has a last-round bolt-catch function. The AR-pistol version uses an 8.5″ barrel and takes a 32-round magazine.
Hi-Point Carbine is now available in color. These are cheap and reliable pistol-caliber carbines, perfect for home defense on a budget. The black version is butt-ugly, but the new camo-color options improve the looks a great deal: camo, desert camo, and pink camo.
Just Right Carbines has a new AR-style pistol-caliber carbine in 9mm, .357 Sig, 40 S&W, and .45 ACP. The most remarkable feature of this gun is its price: “MSRP begins at $799 for the 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP models. MSRP on the .357 SIG model begins at $874.” Some well-known pistol-caliber carbines are just too expensive, notably the Sig MPX and the KRISS Vector. That type of gun shouldn’t cost more than an AR in .223/5.56.
More guns will be added to this page, as Shot Show 2016 progresses.
- Thoreau
i firmly believe in buying only those weapons that are already being used by some federal or state entity. they are proven. any new fangeled weapons from other companies are a leap in the dark.
if you cant find a pistol from Ruger…Smith…Glock…Sig… …..Springfield that works for you ….then dont buy a pistol.
Buy a remington or mossberg shotgun instead (IMHO) :)
Given Kimber’s penchant for producing 1911′s that routinely must go back to the factory for “resolution” of a manufacturing problem, I won’t be even looking at their revolver for at least one year AFTER it has been into the public market place. This is to avoid being one of many of Kimber’s unpaid beta testers that they seem to have in abundance. If and When they can get one of their (very attractive) 1911′s to actually work straight out of the box, I might get interested since they are THE best looking 1911′s out there. I’d rather keep carrying Mr. Ugly that works all the time, then a pretty BBQ gun that “might” work when I need it. Seems such a shame too.