January is convention season for many industries, and the world of firearms is no exception. SHOT Show, the biggest event on the firearms calendar, wrapped up last week, giving us a taste of some of the biggest gun-related products that will hit shelves this year. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of SHOT Show 2024, including some of (in my opinion) the coolest new products revealed at the convention.
Shot Show 2024: New Products and More
SHOT Show 2024 was a triumph by any metric. The 46th annual event was the largest SHOT show ever. It drew more than 55,000 attendees and 2,600 companies from 117 countries and all 50 states.
That means there was a lot happening—too much to cover in a single blog post. But here are some of the biggest happenings.
Staccato Ammo
I was really hoping that some company (looking at you, PSA) would announce stateside production of 7.62×39 so that I could actually start shooting my AKs at a decent price again. That didn’t happen, but we did get an ammo announcement from a pretty interesting source.
Staccato, the company known for updating the venerable 1911 platform to create their line of 2011 pistols, dropped a bombshell at SHOT Show 2024. They announced that they’d be producing their own line of high-grade ammo to match their premium weapons.
So far, Staccato has released two different types of ammo. Their “Range” ammo runs nearly $23 per box, while their “Match” ammo clocks in at almost $30 per box. That’s a pretty steep price for sure. But Staccato claims that these cartridges can help shooters achieve 2-inch and 1-inch groups respectively when fired from one of their 2011 pistols. And if you already own a Staccato, chances are you’re not really worried about the price of ammo anyway.
New Glock Pistols
It’s no secret that I’m a huge AK enthusiast. But I’m also a pretty big fan of Glocks, too. While Gaston Glock died late last year, the company he founded kept right on chugging. Honoring his memory, Glock (the company) released two new products at SHOT Show 2024: the Glock 19X MOS and the Glock 49.
Glock 49
If you’ve been paying attention to the Glock world, chances are you were already aware of the Glock 49. Although the company may have “announced” the new pistol at SHOT Show, they’ve actually been selling it since Q4 of 2023. The gun is essentially a Glock 19 grip with a Glock 49 slide, filling the gap in Glock’s Gen 5 that the Glock 19L had filled in Gen 4.
One super cool aspect of the Glock 49, though, is parts interchangeability. If you have a Glock 45 or Glock 19X, you can swap slides or frames with the Glock 49 to make a Glock 19 or Glock 47. This way, you can essentially buy two different pistols and have four different guns.
You can find the Glock 49 in both standard (non-optic) and MOS (optic-ready) versions at your local gun store.
Glock 19X MOS
The Glock 49 is definitely cool. But the real star of SHOT Show 2024 (in my opinion) is the Glock 19X MOS. Previously, Glock had only offered the Glock 19X in a non-MOS pattern, meaning that you literally couldn’t buy an optic-ready version of the gun. If you wanted to put an optic on your 19X, you had to send the slide out to get it milled.
With the Glock 19X MOS, that’s no longer the case. The MOS footprint allows an end user to mount a Holosun SCS optic directly to the slide of their Glock pistol. Glock also has a bunch of different adapter plates you can use to attach all sorts of different optic footprints to your gun, including the Trijicon RMR and Leupold DeltaPoint Pro.
The 19X already comes with the best factory iron sights of any Glock. The MOS improves that by adding suppressor height sights out of the box. Combine that with an optic, and you’ve got a gun with enhanced accuracy and target acquisition along with the bomb-proof reliability that Glock has always been known for.
And the icing on the cake? It even comes with a Glock OEM threaded barrel!
The 19X also comes with one of my favorite features of any Glock: a tactical lanyard loop. Physically attach your Glock to your body and never forget it in a public bathroom again.
MECANIK M03 Competition Reflex Sight
We’ll finish off this list with something that very few people (if any) saw coming: the MECANIK M03 microdot. MECANIK has been known for taking aim at industry titans and undercutting them with quality firearms at lower prices (their TP9 pistols have been called a “Glock killer,” although I humbly disagree).
Now, they’re making their first foray into the world of competition optics. The MECANIK is trying to unseat the Trijicon SRO as the undisputed king of competition pistol reflex sights. It has a superwide field of view (29mm x 24mm), and can reportedly last 60,000 hours on a single battery. Its aluminum housing looks like an SRO, but for about half the price (MSRP $299).
I’m not about to jump on the hype train for these yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic about this optic.
Firearms Education
Does the idea of attending SHOT Show next year get you feeling a certain type of way? The convention isn’t open to the public—it’s only for gun industry professionals. But if you want to learn the skills that can help you get into the industry, SDI can help. To learn more about the classes SDI offers, click here.
RELATED STORIES
