Rifles: One rifle now getting a good bit of attention here is the Howa “mini-rifle” newly chambered for the 6.5 Grendel cartridge, and for 7.62X39. It should be available in these calibers later this year. The short action and 20” tapered sporter barrel bring it in under six pounds unloaded, sans optical sights. Many are reporting the action to be extremely smooth.

Shotguns: Benelli is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their excellent Black Eagle semiautomatic sporting shotgun. It’s gone through some permutations in that quarter century and now sports a quintessentially modern European styling, with the same rugged reliability as the one I won many years ago at a match. I was no longer into bird hunting and sold it to someone with more need for it, but miss it still. Franchi introduces a line for small statured folks (they’re pushing it for female shooters, a growing gun demographic) called the Catalyst. The Affinity Catalyst is an autoloader, and the Instinct Catalyst, an over/under.  On the economy side, the new Stoeger P3000 has that distinctive “Euro” look much like the Benelli, but is a slide action with manufacturer suggested retail price of only $299.

Handguns: The new Kimber revolver that’s getting so much attention has apparently had design input from wheelgun guru Grant Cunningham, which to my mind is reason enough all by itself to check one out.  SIG is showing competition versions of their striker-fired P320, and also, their long-promised variant with the manual safety is apparently at last available.  Both seem to be getting big thumbs up from SIG fans visiting the booth.

Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to alert you to the fact that one of my favorite clothiers, 5.11, has just introduced…Tactical Yoga Pants.

9 COMMENTS

  2. It’s funny you mention tactical yoga pants. In an earlier blog entry you asked your readers to comment on things we were “thankful” for. I typed in the reply box, “two words, Yoga Pants”, but decided not to click the submit button as it wasn’t gun related and didn’t want to take the blog in that direction.
    Fast forward a couple of months and yoga pants are now tactical. Who’d a thunk it?

  4. Or, if you prefer, 5.11 also offers “Tactical Kilts”. (Sorry Mas, but they don’t seem to offer the kilt in the Ayoob family plaid – only solids and cammo.) They first announced it a few years ago as a April Fools Day joke and got so many actual orders they now offer the kilt as a standard item.

  7. Well, I gotta walk back something I said previously about “new” guns…I like the Howa! New rifle or not, it certainly looks like a good one for our house since it would be something my wife would be very comfortable shooting.

    She really likes bolt-action and my old Marlin 25 (.22LR) in particular, but I’ve been wanting a larger caliber bolt action for her to shoot. While the newer chamberings for it would work well, it’s the .223 they show on their website that got my attention! Any reports on that chambering vs. the 6.5 or 7.62×39 you can point me to?

  9. My only problem with the Howa Mini Action is the lack of a flush-fitting mag…my Model 70 in .223 Rem. holds six above the bottom metal while the full-cap mag of the Howa holds 10. Guess which one handles more smoothly, especially with a Ching Sling attached? You got it, the Winchester! Every other aspect of the Howa, however, seems spot on…I might get one anyway!

    TXCOMT

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