[SHOT Show] Cool Stuff from the Cutting Room Floor

There was literally so much stuff at SHOT Show that, even with the floor divided up among our team, plenty of cool products only got glimpsed in passing or handled for a short time before we were off to our next appointment.

The pistol in the header photo, for instance, was out at Smith & Wesson’s bay on Industry Range Day. We didn’t pay it much attention at first because, ho-hum, Officer’s-size 1911…yawn. But wait, it’s a 9mm? A 9x19mm 1911 with a scandium alloy frame? That’s kind of interesting.

9mm 1911s generally shoot like you’ve got the cheat codes turned on, and this one proved no exception. This was somewhat surprising because we'd have thought the stubbier grip and lighter frame would negate a lot of the light-recoiling advantages of the 9×19 1911. Happily, this turned out to not be the case. We loitered long enough to see the gun run fine for several shooters. If production guns run as well as the one that was out for Range Day, Smith will have a truly unique mini 1911 on the market.

Over at EAA’s booth, they had Tanfoglio’s Witness P Match and P Match Pro, polymer versions of the much spendier metal-framed race guns, but with all the go-fast features still intact.

Pictured is the P Match Pro, set up for Carry Optics with a Vortex MRDS. The P Match Pro is a DA/SA gun configured for USPSA Production with basically the same feature set as the famed Witness Stock III.

It has the extended magazine release and the ambidextrous extended safety levers, it has the extended beavertail frame and the grip mimics the Stock III’s, and it ships with the fully adjustable target sights, too. However, the polymer framed P Match sports an MSRP of $815, only two-thirds the tariff for the Stock III.

Ruger had a wall of new pocket knives out for the show, and the display (complete with tricky-to-photograph lighting) looked pretty familiar.

This is because, while most firearms-company-branded knives (with the notable exceptions of Beretta & HK) are most often low-end brand-licensed tchotchkes ignored by knife connoisseurs, the Ruger knives are built by Columbia River Knife & Tool. CRKT is a solid maker of quality low-to-mid-priced knives and Ruger’s display looked familiar because it was the same neat magnetic wall as the CRKT booth in the basement.