Today was the Industry Day at the Range for SHOT Show 2026, and both Dan and I attended it. SHOT 2026 seems to be shaking up to be a bit of a duller year compared to some of the previous SHOTs, and after today, I’d agree. There were some neat things at Range Day, and I’ll cover them below.
Glock – Gen V & Gen 6
Glock was out in full-force today, and had one of the first booths as you entered the range. The big hubbub was about the new Gen 6 guns, so let’s hop right into them.
The new Gen 6 guns are a bit of a departure for Glock. These are the most aggressively textured guns from the brand, with full wraparound texturing. The Gen 6 Glocks also come with a new trigger shoe, feature a redesigned extractor (all of the previous guns have basically been the same since the early 80s), and comes with a new recoil system. Gone is the double-nested recoil spring, and a new, redesigned single-coil spring is back in the gun.
All of the guns come with Glock’s MOS replacement, the ORS. As a direct mill fan, I do not really like this, and as per the Glock rep we spoke with, there are no plans for irons-only, non-ORS guns. I am bummed a bit by this. Shooting characteristics were good, but truth be told, it’s still Glock-y. If you liked Glock before, you’ll like this. If you didn’t, I doubt it would sway you, however, it is one of the nicer out-of-box Glocks that I’ve shot.
The Gen V guns released in Fall 2025 were also at the range, but we did not shoot them. These are basically a variant of the Gen 5 guns, but have met more compliance for stricter states. To Dan and I, we see these as Gen 3 replacements for places like California, and I think this is certainly a better choice than the older Gen 3 guns.
Overall, Dan and I like the Gen 6. For me, I probably won’t be switching to them anytime soon, as I’m very happy with my modified Gen 2,5, and slimline guns.
Diamondback – Self Defense Revolver (SDR)
We shot the Diamondback SDRs last year, but wanted to try them again today. These are probably the most modern DA revolvers on the market, and Range Day 2026 was a positive showing for them.
Diamondback had quite a few SDRs out, but Dan and I went right for the aluminum framed guns. They had a mix of 38s, .357s (but shooting .38s at the range), and 9mm guns out too. However, we’re rimmed cartridge enjoyers, so we shot the 38 guns.
These were sweet shooters. The triggers were smooth, the guns were reliable, and they are really comfy to shoot. We shoot a lot of Airweights here at Primer Peak, and these guns will be giving S&W a run for their money (especially considering how bad S&W’s QC is these days).
My only gripe with the guns are the sights. They are certainly an improvement over the classic notch-and-trench, but they could use some refinement. They are XS Sights, which I’ve not had great experiences with lately, and are kind of large. I’d like to see a more precise front sight, mostly with a smaller aiming point on it. Give me a brass bead or smaller tritium tube over the massive green thing.
With the SDRs taking J-frame stocks, I think I foresee these in our near futures.
FN America
FN America has kind of not done a whole lot worth talking about the last few years. I really did not like the Reflex, and think it’s an unsafe design. However, there were two things that we checked out while at the booth.
FN has a new handgun, the 309. The 309 is basically an upsized Reflex, using a similar SAO internal hammer fired system. The gun also retains the nearly useless hinging trigger safety from that gun too, which I think it just a poor decision. It’s ineffective as a safety, and really only acts to prevent the trigger from pulling itself when dropped. Aside from the workings of the gun, it’s a pretty bog-standard 9mm handgun.
The 309 takes proprietary 16 or 20 round magazines. These mags are entirely plastic (barring the mag spring), and should be pretty inexpensive to purchase. The gun is also fairly cheap, which was a point that FN’s reps kept hitting on. The guns do come optic ready, and have decent (plastic) sights. To me, this really seems like the FN-version of the S&W Sigma/SDV9E series. This is positioned as a budget alternative to the 509, and feels like it. It’s not awful, but it does feel like a cheap gun.
What’s not cheap is the SCAR platform. FN discontinued it late last year, however, the market knew that meant that an update was around the corner. The new 16 (5.56) and 17 (.308) are out, and they are a proper evolution of the platform.
The guns feature a monolithic upper with M-LOK rail, complete ambi-controls adjustable gas systems, and the ability to make it have a reciprocating charging handle, and a reciprocating one. The guns we shot had FN in-house 3D printed cans, which had very little backpressure and were pleasant to shoot.
I’ve never really been a SCAR fan (aside in MW2 in 2009), but these new ones do feel like a proper improvement to the design. FN did also keep the retail price the same too, which is nice considering how high it is ($3700 to $4000).
Viridian Weapons Technologies
I’ve still been plugging away with my personal Bodygaurd 2.0, and should have my written review live soon. However, I’ve shared a lot more of that gun over on my YouTube channel. One of my viewers there asked me to check out the Viridian optic for the Bodyguard, so I gave it a go today.
The RFX 1 Custom is Viridian’s new BG 2.0-specific optic. It uses a dovetail mount to secure the optic to the slide, and has a slight overhang over the back of the slide. While I don’t generally like this, the BG 2.0 is a PITA to mill for an optic, and you need to have a way to retain the slide endplate, as the rear sight normally does that. Shooting with the optic was quite pleasant, as the BG 2.o ship with awful sights, and the aftermarket ones aren’t much better.
Retail price is $229, and I’m on the fence for it. I really do not like a dovetail mounted optic, and don’t really like a green dot either. However, the BG 2.0 has proven to be a hard onion to peel when it comes to many aspects, and optic mounting is certainly part of it. I’m looking forward to trying this out on my personal BG 2.0 as time goes on.
Mec-Gar
I was quite excited to try out the new Mec-Gar Glock mags last year, but I ended up having issues with mine. On my 18 round mags for the G17/45 length frames, I would occasionally have them fall out of the gun while shooting. Certainly not optimal. Well, I chatted with both the US and Italian staff today, and they stated that they were aware of the issue, and that it was a magazine floorplate problem. Mec-Gar’s remedy was to toss +2 extensions on those mags, which seem to fix the problem. I’ll be testing those out to find out soon!
Shield Arms
Shield Arms is a company that I’ve given a lot of money to over the years, and for good reason. Their S15 magazines for the slimline Glocks have worked great for me, and I have shot with them A LOT. At Range Day, they had some new and older projects to share, like the S10 chopped grip gun above. Basically, Shield takes your Glock, chops the grip, and makes it work with the shorter S10 mags, or the S15 mags with an adapter. I shot the gun and liked it, but it’s a Glock, and a Glock is a Glock. Neat service that they offer.
Shield also recently released magazines for the standard doublestack Glocks. These retail around the same $42 price as the S15 mags, and are neat to see. Are they for me? Not really. However, for a lot of the non-Glocks that take Glock mags, metal magazines are good to see.
I didn’t photograph it (as the Shield reps asked me not to), but they are still workshopping the modular frame Slimline Glock that I reported on last year. I’m happy to see that project hasn’t died!
Olympus Arms
Dan and I generally have a wildcard brand that does something neat or weird at Range Day. Well, for 2026, it was Olympus Arms.
Olympus is a company that I was not familiar with prior to today, and I still don’t really understand them. However, I understand cool sh*t, even if I don’t know why it exists. The company recently came out with a new caliber, the “30 Epic”, which according to the staff today, pushes a 110gr bullet @2800 fps out of shorter barrel guns. However, even cooler to both Dan and I, is that they made a new long recoil operation rifle as part of the release of the caliber.
If you aren’t familiar with long recoil, let me learn you something. Long recoil operation goes way back to the late 19th century, and is how a lot of older autoloading guns work. The Browning Auto-5, the Reminton Model 8, and the Frommer Stop are all old examples of long recoil guns, and there’s a reason why it’s that old. With long recoil, when you fire the gun, the barrel and bolt travel together rearward. Once the bolt hits its stopping point, the barrel then starts to slide forward. This strips the spent round out of the gun, and then the bolt moves forward, picking up the next round. This leads to a very strange, two-part recoil sensation.
Now, long recoil is generally pretty good at reducing recoil, but at the cost of some weight, a lot of springs, and the element that the barrel needs to be able to move enough to work the gun. Olympus has their RD-10 that uses this system, which is quite neat. Dan and I both shot the RD-10s (and I shot a boltgun chambered in .30 Epic), and it was a generally pleasant time. The only downside to this system is the cost, which is at nearly $7000 for the gun. That’s a lot, but it’s cool.
Recapping the Recap
Industry Day at the Range for SHOT Show 2026 was about what we expected. Nothing crazy, but some neat little things. For a look behind our wizard’s curtain, we know that most companies will release their cool stuff before SHOT. You’ve seen it in years past, with new things getting announced about a month to a few weeks in advance. That said, Range Day gives us a chance to get hands-on with the goods, and learn some things.
For me, the highlights were the Diamondback SDRs, the Glock Gen 6s, the Viridian BG 2.0 optic, and the Olympus Long Recoil blasters (long live JMB’s spirit). However, there were plenty of things that we didn’t look at, because it just didn’t appeal to us. However, there were also plenty of things that we didn’t look at because the companies were not at Range Day. S&W, KelTec, and Ruger were notable companies that didn’t put up booths this year.
Dan will be continuing on to SHOT Show proper, but I’m taking a detour to do some filming in the area. One of my favorite Westerns turns 60 this year, and some of the locations used in the film are in the area. Be on the lookout for that here on Primer Peak and on YouTube too!
Be the first to comment