Images are from the manufacturers.

As the NRA Annual Meeting is over, we can take a look at new products that have been announced. Let’s take a look at a few offerings for shooters.

First, from Magpul, there are new M-LOK products. The company announced an index stop, a thumb shelf and the SVG Grip. 

The index stop is a reference point for the index finger, to decrease the chance of getting the support hand in front of the muzzle.  The thumb shelf provides a place for the off-hand thumb to provide downward pressure against muzzle rise when firing. 

The “Short Vertical Grip” is a foregrip that doesn’t create another snag hazard. These will be available in May and can be had in Olive Drab, FDE or black. 

Additionally, Magpul updates the Marlin lever gun (by Ruger and Remington) with a proprietary clamp system added to the Enhanced Lever Gun M-LOK hand guard. This will fit 1895, 1894 and M336 rifles. 

TANDEMKROSS, in coordination with Davidson’s, adds their first complete rifle, the TKX22 Light Rifle. At less than 3 ½ pounds, it’s built with the company’s receiver, the Spitfire lightweight barrel, fiber-optic sights, the Manticore LITE Trigger Assembly, KrossFire bolt and more. 

It will be offered in the four colors of the X-22 stock – stealth grey, black, OD green and FDE. 

To get back in the accessories lines, Hogue is extending their lines of handgun stocks and adding “grip extension magazine base pads.”

Starting with the base pads, Hogue makes OverMoulded Grip Extension Base Pads. The rubber exterior provides friction for the small finger and the base protects the magazine during that emergency reload, providing a cushion for the magazine.

Their OverMolded Rubber Bantam Grip, a stock for Smith & Wesson J-frame revolvers, features a new grip shape. 

The new stocks cover the backstrap, handy for cushion from recoil and to provide a bit more reach to the trigger for those with larger hands. The stocks are long enough to provide a place for the small finger to grip, keeping that muzzle in line during firing. 

From Sig Sauer, there are air guns – for those times you’d like to shoot but can’t get to the range. Promoted as a training analog (“Feels Like a SIG, Because It Is One”), you don’t get the recoil and blast, but you get the marksmanship experience. 

The air gun analogs they sell are advertised as having the same weight, feel and grip of your firearm. From marksmanship to practice in drawing (and holstering) your carry gun, air gun analogs can be a good choice.

The ProForce P226 Airsoft pistol, at around $200, is a CO2 blowback “semiautomatic” air pistol.  For practice at home when you can’t get your P226 to the range, this is supposed to be a close enough analog to get repetitions in with. 

As you can’t draw the pistol at some indoor ranges, this airsoft pistol allows some garage practice at drawing to the first double-action shot. 

Have a trap to catch the projectiles and wear protective glasses. 

– Rich Grassi