If you are unfamiliar with Shot Show, it’s a yearly event where manufacturers show off their products to prospective buyers and dealers. Ok, that’s a dramatic oversimplification, but hopefully, you get the idea. Well over a hundred thousand folks descend on Las Vegas to see the year’s best and newest products. While the overall focus is on firearms, firearms accessories, and outdoor sporting, there is a growing contingent of airgun-related products each year. Here are our top five products (in no particular order) from Show Show 2023. You may be seeing some of which on our site very soon. Let’s get started
Air Venturi Avenge-X Modular PCP Air Rifle
Customizability and adaptability have become important features to enthusiast airgunners and those just getting started. The ability to swap calibers, stocks, tanks, etc., has been reserved for the likes of airguns north of the thousand-dollar mark for some time. So the announcement of the Air Venturi Avenge-X is a big deal.
The Avenge-X follows the awesome success of the Avenger rifle and bullpup. These products brought easy adjustments for things like the regulator and hammer spring. While other products had this same adjustability, only some allowed shooters to do so without taking their gun apart. The Avnenger’s adjustments are all easily accessible.
The Avenge-X is taking things to the next level. Instead of just an adjustable gun, the Avenge-X gives airgunners a shooting “platform,” allowing them to change stocks, calibers, air cylinders, etc. this makes the Avenge-X “One rifle that adapts to all your shooting needs.” To learn more about the Avenge-X please visit this page: https://www.airventuri.com/av/air-venturi-avenge-x-air-rifle/
Umarex Hammer Carbine .50
Umarex was the only airgun company that brought their products to Industry Day at the Range. Industry Day is where the media gets to put their hands on the products and send lead down range. It’s an awesome time where you get to not only see the products but actually pull the trigger and experience their “real world” performance.
The Umarex Hammer .50 took a long time to come to market. It’s a multi-shot, regulated, .50 caliber monster of an airgun that hits seven hundred foot pounds and has taken all manner of big game with ease.
The Umarex Hammer Carbine takes the foundation of the Hammer and seeks to expand its appeal for those looking for something shorter and lighter without compromising accuracy. The new Hammer Carbine comes in 6.75” shorter and about thirteen ounces lighter than the original. That’s a massive difference. Other features included a larger air cylinder which now allows for up to 4 full powered shots, and a “sealed” magazine that dramatically reduces the amount of air that blows from the receiver on the original. Just for reference, consider a typical firearm revolver. The cylinder is not “tight” against the barrel, so some gasses escape. The original Hammer operated much the same way as the magazine was the “breech” just like the cylinder of a revolver. As for power output, airgun hunters can expect to get over five hundred foot-pounds with heavy slugs. While this is down from the seven hundred plus foot-pounds of the long version, it’s more than enough for big game hunting and meets or exceeds any airgun hunting regulations currently on the books.
Umarex USA, Less than Lethal Personal Defense Airguns
We have Umarex listed twice, and for a good reason. The topic of airguns for self-defense is a discussion that most in the industry would rather ignore. Not Umarex. Instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist, Umarex has addressed this market segment head-on with an entire line of Personal Defense airguns and ammunition.
If you visit the Umarex USA website, you’ll find several options for Personal Defense Airguns. Currently, they offer various pistols and a revolver. These .50 cal handguns fire either rubber balls or pepper balls designed to deter an attacker. Whether this is a good idea or a bad idea is yet to be fully tested, but for those looking for a truly “less than lethal” option, Umarex USA has something for you to consider.
Accu-Tac Precision Bipods
If you are a precision shooter, you know that stability is everything. And, if you are a competitive benchrest shooter or just an airgunner who wants to achieve the most accurate results possible with your airgun, you’ve probably tried using not one but multiple “affordable” bipods on your airguns.
We’ve all heard the expression, “buy once, cry once?” That certainly comes to mind when you start looking into airgun accessories. Whether it’s optics, rings, compressors, or any other “multi-use” product, you’re better off getting the best you can afford vs. trying to save a buck on something that ultimately leaves you disappointed. We’ve had this experience with “affordable” bipods over and over. Unfortunately, even bipods that look identical to the expensive options tend to come up short.
Accu-Tac bipods are more than just a cut above. The build quality and features are designed for extreme long-range, tactical, and sporting environments. They are not just military grade, but special forces “operator” military grade. They provide an incredibly rigid and stable platform while at the same time being very flexible. They are expensive, but if you want to get the absolute MOST out of your bench time, they are worth a look.
Evanix Airguns – Viper Semi-Auto PCP Pistol
Semi-automatic airguns are nothing new these days. But shooters often need to remember the physics and engineering of making something like that work. It’s one thing to take a full-sized airgun with plenty of air and make it run semi-auto. But when you try and take that system and make it work properly in a powerful PCP pistol, that’s altogether different.
Evanix has always pushed the boundaries of style and function with its airguns. For those old-timers around, consider the old Evanix Speed, which combined a battery-powered hammer with a big-bore PCP to make perhaps the first select-fire big-bore PCP rifle. Well, Evanix has done it again with their new Viper PCP Pistol.
The new Viper semi-auto pistol from Evanix produces the same or more energy as the Benjamin Marauder Pistol but does so in a much smaller profile. There is a small air reservoir under the barrel that fills to 250 bar, but that’s not the only air storage. The “barrel shroud” is not a barrel shroud at all but actually a second location for air storage. This is true to form for Evanix and its engineering team. When you add the additional air volume, the Evanix Viper delivers up to three mags, with the first two mags getting optimal velocity and power.
That’s a wrap
So there are our top five airgun products from Shot Show 2023, but those don’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the great airguns and airgun accessories on display. If you’ve ever heard the expression “it’s like drinking from a fire hose,” that describes Shot Show. Way too many products and not nearly enough time to see them all.
