NRA Show- Louisville Ky

[RoscoXR]

Since I live in Louisville, I have been looking forward to the 2016 NRA Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center for quit a few weeks now. And am happy to report it really exceeded expectations, and with 11 acres of firearms display, 750 some odd vendors, as well as all manner of gear and accessories it was an exciting few days. Friday was the day of "The Trump" and it was packed so I decided wait until Saturday. Their were a ton vendors and knew I wouldn't have enough time to see everything that I wanted which ended up being the case, but along the way I did run across some very cool unexpected newly released products.

Needless to say, one the first things I focused on was finding the Savage Arms section. Located practically in the center of the display floor, near a few of the other big names, like Sig, Barret, Burris. etc..., it was reasonably easy to find. Everything was laid out well, done in the new logo, and they had plenty of staff to answer basic questions. At first, nothing really caught my eye, except for the new Axis with the wood stock which I had not seen before. But after milling around for a bit I came across the soon to be released Short Action Savage Stealth.

For whatever reason, it did not have a special display and was off to the side not in the main area. They said it would be available in about 2-3 weeks.

Here are the basic spec's

- Savage 12 Target Action Top Bolt Release(it really doesn't look like one but that's what he said)
- Accutrigger that adjusts down to 1.5 lbs
- The Chassis is made by MDT for Savage
- AICS Compatible, it had the MDDTAC Mag but should work with Alpha, AICS, new PMAG etc..
- Fluted 24'' Barrel threaded 5/8-24
- Accepts AR-15 Style ButtStocks
- Blueprinted/Trued
- This one was in 6.5 Creedmore.

I asked the manager if any formal testing had been done to show what if any improvement their was associated with having the action trued up. He stated it was "incremental". I took that as code for not much, and if we did do any testing we are not telling you!! Also, it was noticeably light than the RPR.

 

[RoscoXR]

My favorite new product was the New Sig Sauer Tango 6 5-30x Optic. This was released at the NRA show and was designed to be their first serious foray into the PRS style optics. Personally, I have never used a SIG optic and was skeptical that they even knew what the precision rifle community was looking for. Boy was I wrong, not only did they put together an excellent scope with all the bells and whistles, it comes with something I have never seen in an scope, a built-in feature called "LevelPlex". Before I jump into that, thanks to Joesph a very knowledgeable support staff member who took the time to explain, in detail , all the features and how they worked. Here are some the highlights..

They have designed their own reticle called the DEV-L. As you can see it is a Christmas Tree style reticle and reminded me a little of the HORUS59/Tremor Styles. Now if you look closely on the left hand side you will see a amberish/yellow colored arrow. This is the Level-Plex feature which is Anti-Cant built directly into the reticle/scope. When the scope is canted the lights flash and when it is not they are off. This particular model was calibrated down to a 1/4 degree, however he stated the next release will be 1/2 degree. They configure this feature at the factory and it is covered by a lifetime warranty!! I had a chance to fool around with and I must admit it is very slick and could see may uses from PRS to ELR type shooting. If the lights bug the hell out of you this can be turned off along with illumination if you so choose from the parallax turret.

They didn't have a spec sheet, but this was in MOA, and they have MIL/MIL model coming out with 2 other reticle choices which if I recall correctly are a MIL-DOT style and I can't remember the third!! . Price point $2400ish MSRP.

 

[RoscoXR]

Next was the Beretta/Tikka booth to check out the new TikkeT3x. I have never owned a Tikka, but it is high on my list of rifles to aqcuire so I was very interested in seeing what they had to offer. These rifles just looked awesome when I walked in, the layout at the booth was fantastic, and it helped they were mingled in with some of the newer SAKO's.

This model was in 6.5 Creedmore, and they also had offerings in .260 Rem, .243, .223, .308 with varmint and sporter barrels, threaded or not, and standard and compact sizes. Some the changes that have been made to new models are

-Steel Recoil Lug instead the aluminum one.
-Larger ejection port
-New Stock that has the modular hand grip and doesn't have the "hollow" sound as he put it.
-None longer has the grooves on the scope rail, minus the rings as well
-Upgraded recoil pad
-Steel Bolt Shroud

As usual they looked very well put together, were light and easy to handle, and I think are probably some the best out the box actions. Most MSRP around $1200.00 and they should be available here in July.