Swampfox is a rising US optics brand that has made a name for producing value priced red dots. They’ve expanded into LPVOs and long range scopes. They’re following the template of Primary Arms by offering premium design features for a value tier price just a bit above budget.
I’ve never tried out their optics but many of my viewers have suggested I do. I stopped by their booth at SHOT Show 2025 to get acquainted with their red dots and LPVOs. Their red dots feature a selectable multi-reticle and their LPVOs have well designed reticles more in line with my tastes. I hope I can get an opportunity to test one later this year.
Staccato 2011’s are one of the hottest 1911-style pistols because they are double-stack 9mm bridging the gap between those who love the 1911 platform but want a pistol with the capacity of a modern 9mm duty pistol. At SHOT Show, they debuted their new HD P4, a compact design to be a CCW pistol.
There’s also a rumor that this new pistol would be certified to be available to civilians in California. I asked if that was true at their booth but unfortunately, it turns out to be just a rumor.
Just before SHOTShow 2025 KelTec announced the release of a pistol that was strange and unusual; even for KelTec and that’s saying something. The PR57 is a compact double-action-only pistol, chambered in 5.7, with an internal 20-round magazine, which means this is a clip-loaded pistol.
Stripper clip pistols haven’t been common since the early 20th century. And nobody I know of has made a new one in decades. It is probably no coincidence that the most recent clip-loaded pistol was the Zytec Grendel which the founder of KelTec invented.
I had a chance to try out this pistol at the SHOT2025 Range Day. Jokes about KelTec reliability aside, it appeared solid and equal to KelTec’s pistols in build quality and construction. Notable was its double-action trigger (which is also becoming exceedingly uncommon) which also functioned as the slide disassembly lever when pushed forward.
It was remarkably light at 14oz unloaded and loading and unloading it was simple enough using their adapter/loader which functions like a stripper-clip in function. Shooting, it had had a lot less recoil and snap than a 9mm or .38 of similar size. It shot flat and accurately (I was able to hit an IPSC plate a few times at 100yrds though any misses were shooter error).
It is a much better pistol than I gave it credit. But I think it’s a solution looking for a problem as its utility seems to elude me. And 5.7 is not a caliber I want to get into due to its cost per round. THE PR57 will probably attract the gun buyers who want something very different at the range, that can cause other folks to ask to try it.
Companies spend thousands of dollars creating their brand that is supposed to be memorable and stand out. Their brand is exemplified in their logo but how unique is their logo design? I asked attendees of SHOT Show to identify these popular brands stripped of any identifying text of their name.
Some companies seemed easier to identify than others. Very few got all of them correct. Take part in my 2A industry quiz. Post your answers to the logo quiz in the comments of the Quiz Video and you’ll be entered into a contest to win a bag of SHOT Show swag.
Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on 2/25/2025.
CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS
1. Subscribe to my travel channel on YouTube: Moondog Go to prove you’re not a bot. or Post a reply comment in my video giving your best guess to each of logo band identities.
2. Take a screen shot of your COMMENTS or the SUBSCRIBED button for Moondog Go .
NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. Eligibility
Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident in the USA. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
2. Sponsors and Platforms
Moondog Industries (known as the CO-SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, X and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
3. Agreement to Rules
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
4. Entry Period
Contest email entries must be received between: 12:00pm EST 1 January 2025 and 12:00pm EST 25 February 2025
5. How to Enter
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
6. Prizes
Winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
7. Odds
The odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
8. Selection and Notification of the Winner
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than February 25, 2025. Winner must have a legal address within the US to ship the prize.
SPONSOR is not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided the wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
9. Rights Granted by the Entrant
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
10. Terms & Conditions
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
11. Limitation of Liability
Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
12. Disputes
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
13. Privacy Policy
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
14. Winners List
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
15. Social Media Platform Rules
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
16. Affirmation of Acceptance of and Agreement to All of the Official Rules
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of them.
At SHOT Show 2024, I was invited by Arken Optics to interview Jade Struck, competitive shooter, firearms instructor for Keanu Reeves on John Wick, the face is Call of Duty’s “Iskra”, and proud Arken LPVO shooter. Jade has a remarkable resume and is an equally remarkable individual. She is one of the most physically fit firearms instructor I’ve ever met and she owes that inspiration her husband, former marine, Rudy Reyes.
In a feature rich half-hour conversation that ranged from working with celebrities, her competition background, the importance of fitness, Christian faith, and our favorite Batman actor. Thanks to Arken Optics for sponsoring this video and the opportunity to meet and be inspired by Jade.
Kahles is known in the PRS world for having some of the sharpest, clearest scope when going after targets at 1000yrds or more. After 5 years of development Kahles was eager to show off their newest long range precision scope at SHOT Show. This features not a 36mm tube (good luck finding a many choices for mounts) for an extended range of adjustment and a 40% wider field of view.
Kahles is known for making high-performance long range optics so they’re not top of mind for MilSpec tactical scopes like LPVOs. But for competition 3gun shooters who are looking eek out every last fraction of a second in their run times, having clear sharp glass is a necessity.
Kahles showed off their K181 LPVO at Shot Show 2024 which offers red dot bright illumination. It comes in either a traditional BDC crosshair style retile or a simple two-dot aiming reticle; the ultimate in simplicity for a speed shooter interested in hiting either point-blank or mid-range targets.
DC Predator is an Instagram and YouTube channel of Scott Morris, his brother Ken, and son Kamron; a family of hunters from Arizona who have posted some of the most cinematic hunting footage this side National Geographic. Cam Morris is the primary cameraman for the channel and he brings his photo and videography experience to his family’s coyote hunts. And in case you’re wondering, I asked. DC is not a reference to our nation’s capitol. DC stands for “Death Clap”, the sound of a varmint going down.
Nick Johnson started his TikTok and YouTube channel “Pewview” practically on accident. He was friends with popular Guntuber “Honest Outlaw” and would sometimes shoot with him at Outlaw’s backyard range. Outlaw would film Nick him during speed shooting practice (3gun and 2gun). Oh a whim, Nick posted a few videos on his TikTok and within days they gained millions of views.
Now nick has almost a million subscribers on Pewview with less than 200 videos. How did this guy get so big so fast? Looking at his videos, its easy to see why. He’s a competent and fast marksman and presents gun reviews and shooting tips that are practical, authentic, and without ego.
He’s been a long time owner of Arken scopes and recently started a partnership with Arken. I caught up with him at the Arken booth at SHOT Show 2024 and had an opportunity to sit down for an interview with him.
Nightforce is one of the most highly regarded combat optics used by Special Forces and Law Enforcement officers. Their ATACR and NX8 are 1-8x LPVOs with truly daylight bright illumination. Moreover, the NX8 is one of the shortest FFP 1-8x you can buy. And while they’re over a thousand dollars, professionals say they’re worth every penny.
