5 Unsung Guns from SHOT Show

Springfield, who has been a big player in the AR-15 game since 2016 when they introduced the Saint line, has always made flattop guns. Now, they are going to release a retro 20-inch 1:7 (not 1:9 for some reason) M16A2 clone, complete with a carry handle.

Dubbed the SA-16A2, they have zero information on their site about it and most folks (us included) missed it at the show. All we know is that it is “coming soon.”

Mack W. Gwinn, Jr, a Vietnam-era member of the Army’s Special Forces recon teams, was also an un-lauded 1970s firearms genius. He created the Bushmaster series pistols (the Arm Pistol), rifles, and SMGs; the QCB variant of the .50 cal M-2HB, the SSP-86 pistol, and the 90-round MWG magazine for M16 and Mini-14.

His son, Mack Gwinn, III, now leads Hydra Weaponry. HW was supposed to come to the show and exhibit the newest version of the old Arm Pistol, the BMP-223, but their booth space (40420) was empty when we went looking for them in “the basement.”

As noted by Hydra: “The BMP-23 is the 5.56m pistol that Gwinn Jr. would have built if he had today’s CNC machinery and technologically advanced materials.

The AK47-type gas piston design pistol with an A2 grip is composed of lightweight aluminum and steel construction, coming in at 5.2 lbs. The chrome-moly barrel is 11.5 inches. The BMP-23 features integral iron sights and a unique 40-degree swivel design that allows it to switch from right to left-hand operation.”

Sounds cool. Be a lot cooler if we could have seen it.

The Indonesian state munitions concern, Pindad PT, over the past 50 years has scored production licenses from some of the biggest names in the firearms industry to allow them to make proven gun models domestically.

This included deals with Beretta (BM-59 battle rifle and PM-12 sub gun) and FN (M2 .50 cal, MAG 58 GPMG, Minimi LMG, FNC carbines, and Hi-Power pistols). These deals included all the bells and whistles including tooling, technical packages, and subject matter experts to get the lines running and running right.

Now enough of the lead-up, here is the thing: Pindad attended their first SHOT Show this year, has signed up with a Washington-based distributor who has bought something like $20 million worth of guns, and has established a U.S.-based headquarters/subsidiary in Nevada to make it all happen, and by all we mean sporter versions of the BM-59, FNC, and PM-12– and that’s just for starters.

Ohio Ordnance, the guys that make the M1918 BAR and a wide array of machine guns, came to SHOT with something innovative and mold-breaking– the Recoil Enhanced Automatic Precision Rifle.

The 20,000-foot view is that the REAPR was designed for a SOCOM tender for a .338 Lapua Magnum belt-fed machine gun (not a misprint) that breaks down into three major components in under 10 seconds, small enough to fit into an operator’s backpack.

They say they are ready to put it into production in April and *possibly* make a non-NFA variant for the masses.

Palmetto State Armory brought about 50 different prototypes to SHOT Show to gauge customer feedback to see what folks wanted, including a 570 concept shotgun which blends a Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 with a few different tweaks, and an “MP7 we have at home” that takes the company’s Rock 5.7 pistol and puts it in a case that looks just like the HK MP7.

However, probably the best, in our opinion, was the “SCAR Heavy we have at home,” a 7.62 NATO caliber variant of the JAKL.

The JAKL platform has gone from curious to accepted, with even Garand Thumb saying it is (almost) combat-ready. Give it a few years.