In Part 5 of my 2020 SHOT Show After Action Report, I mentioned several Remington 700 compatible accessories. Defiance Machine showed off the updated Tenacity action, which is Defiance’s answer to the ‘budget’ custom action.
The Tenacity was released a couple years ago, but originally had a separate recoil lug from the receiver, just like the OEM Remington 700. But Defiance realized the cost difference to machine the receiver with the integral recoil lug is so small that they should just machine it that way.
If you are unfamiliar with the Defiance Tenacity, it is only available in a medium action (what most people refer to as short action) or long action, with either a .223, .308, or .300 WM style bolt face. The Tenacity is available in either right or left hand configurations.
The Tenacity can be ordered with either a 20MOA scope base or a pair of Talley Manufacturing one-piece Lightweight Alloy Scope Mounts (as seen in the earlier photo).
The MSRP of the Defiance Tenacity is still $885 USD.
Defiance Machine also showed off what they called the anTI, which standards for anti-titanium.
The point of this action was to trim off as much weight as possible, while sticking with 416 steel. The concept is novel in that they got the receiver and bolt down to 20.8 ounces through combining the removing material, hollowing out the bolt handle, using an aluminum should, and using a lighter chrome moly bolt.
The MSRP is expected to be $995 for the medium (short action) and $1049 for the long action, with orders starting to ship in July 2020.
For those not using Fix It Sticks products, they are coming out with a lot more tools relevant to gun owners. If you are unfamiliar with Fix It Sticks, they are a company whose core product is a two-piece T-handle style wrench that accepts 1/4-inch bits. It is designed to be compact and flexible since the tool is breaks down for easy carry and the interchangeable bits allows for versatility in use. I have been using Fix It Sticks since 2015.
Anyway, one of the new items yet to be released is a ratcheting version of their Fix It Sticks T-handle.
I actually pre-ordered these a couple weeks prior to SHOT after I received an email about them. After handling it in person, I can’t wait to receive them. You can still pre-order the Ratchet T-Handle direct from Fix It Sticks for $32 (down from MSRP of $40) at the time I am writing this.
Fix It Sticks is also releasing kits specific for PRS and 3-Gun. Each kit is slightly different in that they are tailored for the firearms that will be used in either discipline. But generally, each of the PRS and 3-Gun Fix It Sticks Kits include the Ratchet T-Handle, torque limiters (15, 25, 45, 65 in-lbs), cleaning rod set, punch set, and a few other shared items.
But the PRS kit comes with a few more precision bolt rifle related tools (e.g. bubble level, extended length action bits) while the 3-Gun kit comes with a few more tools relevant to 3-gun (e.g. Aimpoint Bit, AR-15 bolt carrier group scraper, Glock Front Sight Bit).
One interesting tool that Fix It Sticks had at the booth is a scope leveling tool that sort of works like the Spuhr mount wedge.
It is basically a device you clamp to the Picatinny rail underneath the scope turret housing, and then you use any 1/4″ compatible driver to turn the device such that it places pressure against the bottom flat section of the turret housing. Assuming the scope is not too tight in the rings, this will level the scope with respect to the bottom flat.
This is a novel idea, but it is dependent on a couple things. For one, you have to trust that the bottom flat of the scope’s turret square to the elevation turret’s internal travel. The second dependency is that you have enough clearance between the bottom of the scope and the Picatinny rail. I do not recall the minimum clearance height (can’t find in notes), but I think many people who run scopes as low to the gun as possible will not be able to use this tool.
Either way, it’s an interesting tool nonetheless for those who have a hard time leveling a scope.
I saw some news fly by on Instagram during SHOT Show about the new takedown bolt action rimfire rifle by Tactical Solutions, otherwise known as TacSol. I sauntered to the TacSol booth to check it the OWYHEE Takedown .22LR Bolt action Rifle.
The OWYHEE (oh-WYE-hee) and it is essentially a bolt action Ruger 10/22 Takedown.
The rifle utilizes the Magpul X-22 Backpacker stock and Ruger 10/22 magazines. The barrel is just slightly different from the actual 10/22 Takedown barrel. The extractor cuts in the breech are different than the 10/22 TD barrel, so you can’t use a 10/22 TD barrel in the OWYHEE.
But from what I was told, a barrel for an OWYHEE should work in a 10/22 TD receiver. This information is important for anyone considering buying a 10/22 Takedown and OWYHEE with the intent of swapping barrels between the two receivers.
The complete rifle as sold by OWYHEE weigh 3.9 lbs making for a nice light rifle.
The MSRP of the OWYHEE is $1065 USD which is sightly less expensive than the MSRP of the TacSol complete 10/22 Takedown rifles ($1,155.00).
The debate is why would you get the OWYHEE (bolt action) instead of a 10/22 Takedown (semi-auto), especially when the price difference is under $100? A bolt action 10/22 TD is going to share the same issues that affect accuracy as with the standard 10/22 TD in terms of the forend being attached to the barrel, the theoretical inconsistency of the barrel alignment and harmonics between each reassembly of the barrel in combination with a receiver mounted scope, etc.
From my viewpoint, I think the main benefit of the OWYHEE bolt action 10/22 Takedown is that is is going to be more reliable. 10/22 semi-auto can be quite finicky from gun to gun, ammo to ammo, and in colder weather. So having a bolt action that is less reliant on ammo to operate the gun could be beneficial to harsher environments, especially if this rifle where to be used as an emergency field rifle (which is why I built a 10/22 Takedown).
Continuing on with another rimfire offering (apologies for all the haters who think I’m rimfire focused; it just goes to show how much new rimfire products there was at SHOT 2020), I have to mention the Glock 44.
So everyone already heard about the Glock 44 in the weeks prior to SHOT. The G44 is the .22LR chambered Glock pistol in the compact form factor, which gives it near similar dimensions to the G19.
The G44 has a 4.02 in / 102mm barrel (same as the G19), an overall length of 7.28 in / 185mm (slightly longer than the G19 at 7.36 in / 187mm) with a height including magazine of 5.04 in / 128mm (same as G19.
The G44 without magazine weighs 12.63 ounces or 358 grams which is just over half the weight of a G19 without magazine at 21.16 ounces or 600 grams.
The G44’s lighter weight is due to the fact that the slide is a hybrid polymer and steel construction. They could not make the slide completely steel, otherwise the pistol would not function (slide operation on recoil) due to the .22LR cartridge. The whole slide moves just like a standard Glock, and is not like other rimfire pistols like the Ruger MKIV where only a small portion of the slide/action acts as a bolt.
It also tears down exactly like a standard Glock: Pull trigger, pull slide back slightly, pull down slide release tabs, and push slide forward off the frame.
I ran into people on the SHOT Show floor that I know from home city and home range who all remarked about how cheap they thought the Glock 44 felt.
I sort of see where they are coming from, but this is just how the pistol needs to be manufactured in order to function. I don’t think the steel-polymer slide should be a detractor. If the G44 runs with all types of ammo and functions with little to no issues, then that’s all it needs to do. But I can’t help it if people don’t like how it feels.
Anyway, the debut MSRP for the Glock 44 .22LR is $430, with expected retailer prices to be under $400. Even if we could get these in California, I do not see myself prioritizing this gun. I could make good use of it from a training aspect, but with the type of pistol shooting I do, there’s nothing to be gained by shooting the G19 in 9mm vs the G44 in .22LR other than ammo costs. I think this would be a nice training gun for new shooters, because it gives them a ‘regular’ size pistol with a fully functioning slide to operate so they can learn how to manipulate a pistol.
Now that I brought up Glock, there was one aspect about Glock that many people who attend SHOT were looking forward to after Glock announced their new spokesperson back in April 2019. That is the appearance of Chuck Norris at SHOT to do meet and greets at the Glock booth.
Well that definitely took place and there was a lot of waiting by all the Chuck Norris fans to get a chance go shake hands with the action film and martial arts icon.
I will admit I too was also looking forward to meeting Chuck Norris at SHOT 2020 after I heard he was the new Glock spokesperson. But I did not have the time to get in line early and/or sit in line for hours to meet Chuck. It’s already hard enough to see the various booths at SHOT in the few days I have at the show. Spending time in line is not feasible.
But I was able to snap some photos of Chuck Norris meeting with the fortunate fans who made it to the front of the line.
There were actually quite a few guys in the security detail, most likely just to keep the peace.
Look for Part 7 of my 2020 SHOT Show After Action Report in the next day or two. Refer to 2020 SHOT Show After Action Report – Part 0 for the index of all parts in my 2020 SHOT Show AAR series.
Here’s another reward for anyone that read to the very end of Part 6:
- 30% off geissele.com code – 2945351
- 35% off SSA and SSA-E triggers on geissele.com – ZAWY8G
The above codes are one-time use, expire on 02/29/2020, and are not valid on SSF, armorer’s kits, or Magpul products sold on geissele.com (as indicated on the coupon). If neither works, you were too late to redeem. I actually have several more Geissele coupons, so if you missed on the ones above, I will post more in the future 2020 SHOT Show AAR posts.
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