As a firearms instructor, police officer and gun writer, I’ve been to a few vendor range days and shot a few firearms from a variety of manufacturers. Realistically, there’s only so many Glocks, 1911s, 2011s and AR-15 varieties that get me excited anymore. However, occasionally, there’s something from a vendor range day that stands out.
On Monday during Industry Day at the Range ahead of SHOT Show, I discovered a few new and improved products that fit a need within law enforcement. Each of these should garner some serious attention from departments when it comes to selecting gear, recommending gear to fellow officers, or bringing a new product on board to fit a need that wasn’t previously met.
Sons of Liberty AR-15 rifles
In the firearms classes I teach and for product review articles I’ve written over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to test a lot of AR-15 rifles from numerous manufacturers. For the past 25 years or so, I’ve seen rifles from manufacturers that blazed on scene like a 1960s muscle car only to fade into oblivion like the horse and carriage. Lots of promise and glamour but really no substance that lasts over time. As a result, I’m hard to impress when it comes to the latest and greatest patrol rifle.
Enter the Sons of Liberty Gun Works. Over the past two years, I’m seeing more Sons of Liberty Gun Works patrol rifles in our classes. In fact, Randall County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office SWAT runs Sons of Liberty Gun Works rifles. I’ve seen their Presscheck Signature Series 14.5″ Rifle as well as their M4-76 16″ Rifle in our classes, both suppressed and unsuppressed. These rifles just run and run regardless of the abuse and maintenance their operators dish out. There’s a reason their very knowledgeable rangemaster and SWAT commander have ordered those rifles. They simply work under any condition.
During my time with the Sons of Liberty rifles on the range, I found a very good fit between the upper receiver and the lower receiver. The buffer tube and buttstock fit snug preventing the stock from moving around and feeling sloppy. The selector switch snaps crisply from safe to fire and back. The triggers are legitimate patrol rifle triggers. They’re smooth with a crisp break without feeling like a two-pound competition trigger. The bolt carrier group runs smoothly inside the upper receiver without the gritty feel many other rifles exhibit. These are worth a spot on your short list of patrol rifles to test and evaluate for patrol or SWAT.
Bollé Safety
When it comes to eye protection, I’m probably a bit of an eye-pro nerd. This may be the result of an incident where I had a large caliber rifle explode in my hands. If it weren’t for high quality eye protection, I probably wouldn’t see very well today. I’ve had the opportunity to use eye protection with interchangeable lenses from a variety of manufacturers, but the Bollé Gunfire 2.0 is next level.
First, it comes with three interchangeable lenses. Clear, copper and smoke lenses have integrated frames that can be changed out with two set of temples or arms. These lenses are coated with the Bollé Platinum coating to protect them against fogging and scratching. This doesn’t mean you can throw them around the dash of your patrol car without scratching them, but the Bollé Platinum lens coating protects the lenses from normal use and abuse better than untreated lenses.
Next, when it comes to anti-fog protection, the Platinum coating works really well. The weather conditions at the range were in the low 50s with a little bit of rain. I put a fresh set of Bollé Gunfire 2.0 glasses on after walking around, and they stayed clear as glass. Pun intended. I was impressed, because the glasses I was wearing prior to this started to fog while talking with the folks from Bollé. This wasn’t like going from sub-zero outdoors to 70° inside a building, but it showed me the Platinum coating from Bollé probably works well.
Point Blank Duty Gear
Everyone has heard of Point Blank Body Armor, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the majority of people reading this have worn Point Blank Body Armor at some point in their career. But how many of you have worn Point Blank’s Origin Duty Gear System?
This was a completely new product to me that I didn’t see coming. The Point Blank Origin Duty Gear is highly unique. For example, when you get your gear, you decide whether you want to wear the hook side of the hook and loop next to your body or away from your body. Not only do you get to decide where you place your gear, you get to decide which way the hook and loop fasteners work best for you. The under belt and the duty belt are completely reversible.
The Point Blank Origin Duty Gear is available in the standard 2 1/4” belt width or a 1.75” belt in black, multicam, olive green, or flat dark earth colors. The rifle and handgun magazine pouches feature an integral retention system that allows users to adjust the amount of tension they want in their magazine pouches. The end user can even decide whether they want to attach accessory pouches to their duty belt system using the more traditional MOLLE-system or using the Point Blank One-Wrap system.
I can’t wait to get my hands on a Point Blank Origin Duty Gear setup to see if it works as well as it appears. This could be a complete game-changer when it comes to duty gear.
Sabre – Security Equipment Corporation
Like I mentioned before, I’m a gun guy. I love shooting. I love training shooters. I love working on firearms. That being said, another product that caught my attention I never would have believed would interest me is from one of the biggest and best names in pepper spray products. Sabre.
Many of us carry or have carried Sabre pepper spray products on patrol. Now, Sabre has developed a new way to deliver their products at a longer distance. Utilizing an air rifle that delivers 0.68 caliber projectile balls around 360 fps, Sabre has developed a platform to accurately deploy OC, CS, ID Marking, and glass breaking projectiles with extreme accuracy. How accurate? How about putting their inexpensive training projectiles on a 10” steel plate at 25 yards?
To do this, Sabre has developed an air rifle that operates similarly to an AR-platform rifle but with a projectile hopper and gas canister. It feels like an AR, shoots like an AR, has accuracy like an AR, but is color-marked and obviously appears to be a less-lethal system. The only difference is the buttstock on the Sabre system has a drop offset stock that works well even when the operator is wearing a gas mask. This is a well-thought-out delivery system for less-lethal projectiles. In today’s law enforcement operating environment, accurate and effective less-lethal systems are more important than ever, and Sabre looks to be on the cutting edge.
Overall, the 2024 SHOT Show Industry Range Day had me excited for the handguns, shotguns and rifles that I would have the opportunity to test. However, as much fun as ballistic therapy was for me at the range, I was shocked and surprised how many other fantastic products were on display. I’m looking forward to seeing what the other exhibitors have in store the rest of the week.
