Industry Day at the Range is the chance for manufacturers to showcase new products to media and other SHOT Show attendees away from the neon of the Las Vegas Strip, at the Boulder Rifle and Pistol Club’s range. At Range Day, you get to feel the recoil of a pistol, hear the hush of a suppressor, test the accuracy of a rifle, and experience what you may have only looked at on a company’s website. This event kicks off SHOT Show and gives the opportunity to go hands-on with new products in a way you can’t inside a convention center. We took this opportunity to give our picks for the standouts of products we tried.
FN 309 MRD Pistol
FN announced recently a new semi-automatic pistol design— the 309 MRD. The 309 incorporates many features that a new pistol owner would find appealing. Due to the internal hammer-fired mechanism, the 309 requires 25 percent less effort than most striker-fired pistols to operate the slide. Directional indicators (bullet-shaped icons) on the magazines assist in getting your cartridges pointed in the right direction when loading.
A few ounces lighter than the company’s 509, the 309 MRD weighs just under 23 ozs. making it a compact pistol package. The grip texture isn’t too aggressive and the pistol’s recoil is quite manageable. The fiber-optic front sight is easy to acquire, and the rear sight has a white polymer insert. The pistols come optic-ready and are shipped with 16 and 20-round magazines. The 309 MRD retails for $549; a manual-safety option and flat-dark-earth finish options are said to be offered soon.
Glock Gen6
The new Glock Gen6 pistols are an update of the 40-year-old design. That update, however, is the most significant to date. Previous Glock generations were minor, mostly cosmetic, tweaks, while the Gen6 updates give the pistol a different feel in the hand. New RTF6 (rough texture frame) gives your hand more adhesion and the deeper slide serrations give more purchase when racking the slide. New frame contours allow for a slightly easier reach to the trigger. Gen6 Glocks use an ORS (Optic Ready System) which replaces its MOS mounting system. The new generation is currently only being offered in 9 mm Luger-chambered G17, G19 and G45 models, all with an MSRP of $745.
Sonicore Suppressors
If you haven’t committed to the purchase of a suppressor yet due to the costly NFA suppressor tax, now’s your chance. With the repeal of the tax, all suppressors have just become $200 cheaper. Lyman Products, the same company that brings you reloading equipment, is bringing out a line of Sonicore suppressors. Available in 12 different configurations, with direct thread and overbarrel versions that accommodate calibers .22 LR, 9 mm, .223/5.56 mm and .30. Another feature of the Sonicore suppressors is their modularity. Sections can be removed to shorten the suppressor to reduce the overall length, if necessary. The European-based design utilizes a stainless-steel core surrounded in an aluminum housing. Their best feature? The price. With super affordable costs ranging from $199 to $299, there couldn’t be a better time to outfit your handgun or rifle with a suppressor.
Diamondback Firearms SDR-A Revolver
We were excited to see that Diamondback Firearms brought its new SDR-A revolver to Industry Day. Sized like the Smith & Wesson J-frames, the SDR-A squeezes one more chamber in its cylinder than the aforementioned revolver, allowing for six-shots of .38 Spl. The “A” designation stands for aluminum, versus the stainless steel frame of their standard SDR.
The SDR-A is a double-action-only revolver, meaning the hammer is concealed and cannot be thumbed back for single-action shooting. The rubber Hogue grip was specifically designed for the SDR-A and proved to be very comfortable when firing and provided plenty of grip. The revolver is compatible with any J-frame sized grips. The fiber-optic sights were easy to acquire, giving you more than just a groove in the frame to align your shots as some other CC pocket revolvers do.
Diamondback’s “A” model came out last month priced at $614, giving revolver enthusiasts a really affordable option for concealed carry or range fun in Diamondback’s revolver line-up.
Shoot Like a Girl
Shoot Like A Girl was on-site doing what it does best, offering words of encouragement and guidance to those interested in shooting sports. The organization has a mobile educational unit that they take to major events across the country and invite anyone, but women specifically, to learn proper archery form, pistol grip and rifle shooting techniques.
Founder Karen Butler—NRA's Golden Bullseye winner for Woman of the Year in 2024—and her team were giving instruction on shooting skills and they are always friendly and full of energy to support women in the firearm industry. For 15 years, Shoot Like a Girl has welcomed more than 17,000 people through their product demonstrations. With a full schedule ahead check out their Safety Tour to see when they will be in a city near you.
EnviroGun Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Products
A happy gun is a clean gun. A clean gun is also a more reliable gun, so it’s something we should all do more often with our firearms. EnviroGun makes a firearms cleaning product that is not only environmentally friendly, it’s friendly to your skin.
The plant-based cleaner scrubs away debris just as thoroughly as any established gun-cleaning solvents on the market and is safe on metal and polymer components. Company president Lia Kes Carmi Berman said the idea came from hearing how soldiers who have to use their weapons in dusty and sandy conditions have to clean them daily. EnviroGun cleaner was designed to eliminate their exposure to harsh cleaning chemicals.
EnivroGun’s cleaning products are offered in a spray form as well as wipes and will soon be available on Amazon.
Viridian Weapon Technologies RFX 1 Custom for the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0
The term “micro red dot” is a bit of a misnomer, because while it refers to all slide-mounted optics, they are not always red. Viridian Weapon Technologies has a line of reflex optics and lasers and green is their color of choice. Viridian uses a green dot inside their view window, which is easier to see in daylight, and for people with astigmatism the dot appears less fuzzy than a red dot.
As it comes from the factory the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 is not an optics-ready pistol and there are few options available to mount an electronic sight on their narrow slides. Viridian offers RFX 1 Custom models that will direct fit those micro pistols with no modification necessary for the pistol. The 3 MOA dot doesn’t co-witness with the iron sights, but the optic is rugged, shockproof and water resistant. It has serrations that integrate with the Bodyguard slide serrations and doesn’t add much to the overall size of the pistol when carried. The RFX 1 auto adjusts to the brightness of your surroundings and goes to “sleep” when stationary. The company introduced a similar product previously for the Ruger LCP Max.
The Viridian RFX 1 Custom retails for $229.
Caldwell’s ClayCopter
Caldwell is known for its shooting rests, targets and range gear and now they have introduced a line of clay throwers—the ClayCopters. The handheld Launcher (battery operated) and Rip-Launcher (manual retractable pull cord) send Caldwell’s line of ClayCopter targets soaring into the air. Its line of targets are lighter and biodegrade faster than traditional clays. They come in standard orange, “Stealth Drone” black or glow-in-the-dark “UFO” color options.
Just this week Caldwell unveiled the Surface-to-Air clay launcher—a standalone portable unit that is voice activated, remote controlled, or can be managed with your smartphone. You can customize direction and types of clays that are thrown—oscillating and wobble functions, target pairs, and flurries. The rechargeable battery can send up to 300 clays out on a single charge.
The Caldwell Rip-Launcher retails for $99, Launcher for $240 and the Surface-to-Air for $550.
Mantis TitanX Training System
The Mantis laser training systems are a great way to hone your shooting skills and track your training progress. The one downside is that many pistols that use the laser cartridge have to be manually racked to reset the trigger. Now, Mantis has come out with a dedicated training pistol to use when you train with their Laser Academy or MantisX app. The TitanX Smart Laser Training Pistol has a built-in red laser and the trigger resets automatically for quick follow-up shots. The training pistol is also optic-ready with a RMR/Shield RMS/RMSc footprint to mount your optic of choice. Another feature of the TitanX pistol is a removeable weighted magazines to utilize with your training. Different versions of the training pistol emulate the Glock 17, 19 and 45.
The TitanX training kit sells for $200 and comes with two weighted magazines and a charging cable to recharge the laser pistol.
