Boycie has once again been on comms with us overnight, and it appears that Industry Day at the Range for SHOT SHOW 2025 has been as cool as ever!
Without further ado as this is a lengthy post, we’ll hand straight over to Boycie…
“We RV’d in the lobby at 0730 to then call in at Starbucks just outside the hotel where we got our morning coffee. There wasn’t time to go for breakfast so the coffee was a good start. We also met up with our Armed Lifestyle Magazine colleagues, then fuelled by caffeine and enthusiasm we had a brisk walk over to the Venetian Exhibition Center and to the RV point for the coach that would take us to Boulder City Rifle and Pistol Club, the hosts for Industry Day at the Range.
The trip to the range, approx. 30 miles away, took around 45 minutes. As we got off the coach we were greeted by a chilly temp, which was made to feel even colder by a strong wind of about 25 mph blowing straight into our faces. With the four of us now being veteran Shot Show attendees we were dressed appropriately. As we passed through the entry gate we collected a free set of Razor ear defenders and safety glasses sponsored by Walkers.
The group got prepared and we decided to start at the top of the range, just by the entry gate. Our first stand was Sim-X Ammunition. This was of great interest to Steve and Boycie given the range of lead free ammunition on offer; more to come about this in the main Post Shot Show report. The group then spilt up to enable the team to cover more ground. Our friend John Phillips from Survivor Creek Tactical had chosen to stick with myself, L’il Stu and Steve and will be joining our team for the duration of the show.
Next we headed to the joint Bushmaster and Franklin Armory stand. Here we got our hands on the SCAR 15S. The rifle itself was universally liked, however the jury is out on the binary trigger that was fitted. We then crossed over to the Bushmaster side of the range and tried out their .300 AAC Blk suppressed M4 which we rocked on “full giggle”. This term seems now to be adopted as how we refer to “full auto”.
Next we decided to head down to the coffee stand as we felt the need to top up the caffeine levels. Whilst here we saw the LWRC stand and subsequently spent quite some time discussing and testing almost every firearm they had on their stand.
Our next stop was at the Traditions Firearms where we were taken aback at the .50cal muzzle loading rifle which used a plastic skirted projectile at 290 grains in weight, but used a quite unique powder charge system which Steve said resembled a 20 bore shotgun cartridge. This cartridge was a plastic case, pre filled with black powder and initiated by a shotgun primer. We all found it a pleasure to shoot and liked how simple it was to clean after use.
The lure of the pistol range then became too strong, but before we headed down there John P had a look at Zenith who had a roller locked .300 AAC Blk fitted with a Boss Chairman suppressor. He commented on how smooooth it felt to fire and how quiet the report was, akin to that of a PCP air rifle.
Next on to the lower range where there were a lot of pistols which we were looking forward to testing along with some other rifles. We had the opportunity to fire around 30 pistols ranging from 9mm up to .45 ACP long with approximately 20 rifles. So rather than list every firearm, we decided for this report to choose our personal favourite of the day.
Steve leads off with his pick of the day. “For me the H&K CC9 is my pick. A well spec’d pistol, with two grip sizes and the option to come factory fitted with a Holosun red dot sight. It shoots incredibly flat for a compact pistol using the 9mm round”.
L’il Stu’s choice was the B&T AP9K-SD. “Light and pointable I was really impressed by the build quality and accuracy of the rifle. But what almost took my breath away was how quiet it was and how little recoil was felt. The trigger was really comfortable and had a clean break point. If you wanted an airsoft version they’ve just been released in the UK by Archwick and come in at around £500”.
John P’s pick of the day was the Kimber 2K11. He had been talking about wanting to shoot this for most of the day. “From the finish to the slide cuts I was enamoured by the pistol. I had gone hoping to like it, but came away loving it!”
For Boycie, usually a huge fan of Glocks, he broke with tradition and chose the Colt Kodiak .44 Magnum revolver. “This I didn’t really expect to like as much as I did. Firing the mighty .44 round and having a 4 1/4” ported barrel I thought that this would be quite a handful to fire but was amazed when the recoil reminded me of that of a light .38 Spl round.”
After around 7,500 steps covering 6km each, we decided to head for the coach that would return us to our hotel. We couldn’t believe how dusty we all were so headed to our rooms for a shower before going down to find our dinner and partake in an adult beverage or two.”
Tomorrow brings day one of SHOT SHOW 25 proper so keep an eye out for our first report from as Boycie, Li’l Stu, Steve and our good mate John P hit the show floor!
