Industry Day at the Range 2020 — Highlights

20th Day of the 2020th Year!
For folks in the gun industry, the third Monday in January is the best day of the year. Held in conjunction with SHOT Show, Industry Day at the Range lets us try out dozens of new rifles and pistols, as well as meet top gun designers and friends in the shooting sports. We saw some very great new products this year. Here are some of the most interesting “take-aways” from Industry Day at the Range, held in Bolder City, Nevada on January 20, 2020.

New Guns + Old Friends on 1/20/20
Meeting old friends, and shooting new guns. That’s what Monday was all about at the annual Industry Day at the Range, a “hands-on” preview the day before SHOT Show opens in Las Vegas. At the crack of dawn your Editor met with Gavin Gear of UltimateReloader.com and headed out to the Boulder City (NV) range. There we met up with GunsAmerica Editor True Pearce, F-Class aces Stan Pate and Matt Schwartzkopf, Down Range TV host Michael Bane, Top Shot’s Dustin Ellerman, and many other friends in the industry.

We were not disappointed — there was plenty to see this year. On display were a bunch of new precision rifles, some nice new revolvers, and some very exotic optics. SEE Exhibitor List.

Cool New Rifles and Chassis Systems

There is a definite trend towards metal modular chassis systems. We saw many more metal stocks than fiberglass stocks on the firing line. One of the most interesting chassis rifles was showcased by Advanced Shooting Analytics (ASA). This features a STEEL alloy center section that holds the steel rifle action. The thinking behind this is that aluminum expands as it gets hot at a different rate than steel. That can stress the steel action. Having “steel on steel” eliminates those stresses say the designers — providing an advantage compared to an all-aluminum chassis.

We tested the new Savage 110 Elite Precision, an impressive new rifle boasting an advanced aluminum chassis crafted by MDT. Part of Savage’s new Precision Series, this is clearly aimed at the PRS crowd. Savage also showcased its new rimfire precision rifles. See below:

The innovative, patented FightLite SCR® (Sport Configurable Rifle) blends the utility and accuracy of an AR15 with the classic lines of an American sporter. Importantly, this rifle is 50-state legal! The old-fashioned stock design of the SCR permits shipping to FFLs in all 50 states.

Cadex Defense showcased its CDX-R7 Sheepdog hunting rifle. A departure from the metal-chassis rifles. The Sheepdog features a comfortable outer skin and a very ergonomic design. Here’s a video preview:

The Cadex CDX-R7 sported a bright red RifleKuhl barrel fan from Magnetospeed.

Wild-Looking AR Rifles — Vivid Colors and Ports
Bling is the thing in 2020. There were some wild-looking AR-platform rifles with exotic finishes. One AR, used by the Eotech folks to showcase their Vudu optics, had a radically ported upper.

Optics — New Scopes and Electro-Optics

Actual view through Schmidt & Bender scope. Great glass — sharp and bright to the edge

Zeiss displayed some impressive Second Focal Plane scopes.

Here is the impressive Charlie TARAC prism unit from TacomHQ, set up on an ELR rifle with a massive barrel. The prism designer John Baker showed us new prototype units that allow the user to dial the amount of elevation increase.

One tripod sported an array of hardware, with a rangefinder and a big Swarovski Spotting scope fitted what appeared to be a Phone Skope adapter. This allows through-the-eyepiece viewing/recording.

Handguns — Rimfire and Centerfire

This striking image is from GunsAmerica’s Range Day Report on the new Colt Python. This report by Levi Sim features a video and many photos.

We viewed dozens of pistols, but were most impressed with a couple updated rimfires, and two ultra-accurate wheelguns — the Ruger Super 100 9mm and the “reborn” Colt Python, a stainless beauty. Show above are both 4″ and 6″ versions. The workmanship was superb — as was the accuracy.

We also tested a updated version of the classic Browning Buckmark .22 LR semi-auto pistol with a ported barrel shroud. This balanced great and had a very nice trigger pull.

Ammunition — Big News from Sierra and True Velocity

Sierra displayed one of the most noteworthy innovations in loaded ammunition. The new Sierra/True Velocity Composite Ammo features a POLYMER case. This allows a very significant weight savings — at least 35% compared to conventional ammunition. Sierra and True Velocity are partners in this project. Initial offerings of hunting ammunition should be available in late 2020.

New TECH — Shot-Locating Steel Target Plates from Israel

Israel’s A.D.L. Smart Solutions LTD. displayed an innovative shot location plotting system. This measures shot location and hit rates via a sensor module on the BACK (reverse side) of a thick armored steel plate. The designers tell us the armored plates have survived 7000+ rifle shots without a problem. The sensor unit transmits shot locations wirelessly back to a laptop which runs Apple or Windows software. The software can also keep profiles of different rifles/cartridge types with ballistics for each.

About Industry Day at the Range

With two dozen shooting bays, plus an elevated shooting station with targets out to 400 yards, there is plenty of action. Here’s the layout:

Next best thing to being there — this video shows 2020 Industry Day highlights. It’s a great overview featuring a wide variety of rifles, pistols and shotguns. The biggest commercial, hands-on “live fire” gun demonstration in the world, Industry Day at the Range is attended by over 1700 journalists and buyers.